We've Got to Learn to Live with These Ghosts
by Halawen
Summary: Detective Constable Clare Edwards is the youngest and only female officer in the DeGrassi precinct. She's got a good partner, and friends in fellow officers Spinner Mason & Sean Cameron, along with their boss Archie Simpson they do their best to help those seeking justice. But when Clare is asked to look into a cold case how will they feel? 100% A/U. I urge you to read A/Ns.
1. The Old & the New

**Welcome the new long story!**

 **Legal: I do not own and am not associated with DeGrassi, Epitome or Cold Case.**

 **Important things to know before reading ~**

 ***This story is inspired by the tv show Cold Case but is not a crossover.**

 ***Technically a future fic it is 100% A/U.**

 ***There never was a school of any kind called DeGrassi and thereby no one ever went there. No one went to high school together unless so mentioned in a chapter. There is still a DeGrassi street.**

 ***Almost all characters from all seasons of DeGrassi will be used in some capacity in this story. Be patient your favorite character is likely to show up somewhere in some capacity. Ages, jobs and sometimes family will be changed. For the most part I will give ages and backgrounds when characters are introduced.**

 ***Clare is 24 in this story her background and family will be revealed throughout the story. As will the other main characters for this story.**

 ***Each case will be different and some may be very intense, I will do my best to warn at the beginning of the chapter when it will be intense or possible trigger warnings.**

 ***Finally, while I am using ranks for OPP (at least from what I could find) everything else is purely fictionalized for this story. Shifts, the station they work at, other precincts etc. is all fictionalized and structured to fit this story.**

 **Okay that does it, hope you all enjoy this premier!**

 **Ch. 1 The Old & the New**

 **(CLARE)**

 _Click click click click_ my heels make a rhythm as I ascend the stairs to the homicide unit. I open my gun locker and place in my service weapon. We never wear weapons on the floor, we shouldn't need them and there's too much risk that a suspect will take it.

"Hey Clare," Spinner smiles when I sit at my desk.

"Hi Spin," I smile back but I'm looking at Sean in the bosses office. "Seems pretty quiet this morning," I comment looking at the stack of paperwork on my desk.

"Sounds like it was a busy night, I'm glad we don't have the graveyard shift anymore," Spin replies.

"Yeah, starting on the graveyard shift was tough, the guys on that shift did not want to work with a woman."

I'm a Detective Constable, I made D.C. almost two years ago and was very proud. The guys on the night shift didn't make it easy for me though, they didn't think a woman should be in homicide. Which shows you what kind of sexist pigs they were. There are other females in homicide units within the OPP, not many though and at 24 I was by far the youngest. I majored in criminology in college, which helped. Last year I solved a big case and got promoted to day shift, which also didn't make the night shift guys happy. Mostly because I got promoted above them. It did make me happy though, my new partner Luke Baker was not a sexist pig. Though he wasn't too happy about having a female partner he didn't make sexist comments or treat me like a kid. Though our first couple months partnered together we argued a lot.

"Hey Partner, sorry I'm late. Did I miss anything?" Luke asks locking up his service weapon.

"Not a thing, just looking at the stack of paperwork," I smile.

Luke Baker is 27, he made Detective Constable almost three years ago. Two years ago he transferred from another precinct. When he was a senior in high school his family moved to Florida, but Luke stayed here and married his high school sweetheart. Jenna is a big reason Luke and I began getting along. About two months into us being partners Jenna invited me over for dinner. I got along with Jenna pretty well, met their son David and got to talk to Luke as a person. Ever since then Luke and I have been pretty solid as partners, sure we still disagree but I know Luke has my back.

"Hey Spin," Luke greets sitting at his desk across from mine.

"Hi Luke," Spin nods to him without looking up from his computer.

Gavin "Spinner" Mason is 33 and he's been a DC with homicide almost six years now. The way he tells it he barely made it through high school and had a lot of problems as a kid. His dad died of cancer when he was young, and his little sister Kendra disappeared at age 15. Spin had a couple really hard years, he did everything he could to find Kendra to no avail, and he almost slipped into a bottle never to come out. It was our boss that helped Spin turn his life around and become a cop.

"Why's Sean in with the boss? What's going on?" Luke inquires.

"A new desk sergeant bumped into Sean on our way in. He's in a bad mood today as it is and I had to stop him from pushing the guy into the wall. Snake is giving him a lecture about conduct," Spin explains.

Sean Cameron is 33 like Spin, and like Spin he had a rough childhood. He hardly talks to anyone about anything, especially his past. What I've been able to piece together is that he was expelled from his first high school for a fight. Not just any fight but he deafened his opponent in one ear. I think his father drank, and was probably abusive. He lived with his brother for most of his adolescence, but a few years ago his brother was killed on his bike during a hit and run. The death of his brother hit Sean really hard and he carries a big chip on his shoulder now because of it, at least I think that's what it is. He's a good guy though, he's good at his job, he's protective and he can be the sweetest kindest guy anyone would ever want to talk to. I do wish he'd let people in though and stop being such a loner.

"You have to learn to breathe son, one more incident and I'll have to send you to anger management classes Sean," Simpson says opening the door to his office and escorting Sean out.

"Yeah, I know Sir I'll try," Sean nods.

Simpson nods to us and closes the door to his office. Archibald "Snake" Simpson is Detective Staff Sergeant of the Riverdale precinct in Toronto. In other words our boss. He's a good boss, he's like a father figure to all of us, though three of us had a crappy father or an absentee father growing up. Only Luke seems to have a good relationship with his dad. I haven't seen my dad since he left us when I was seven, walked out on us for his mistress.

No one is sure how the sarge got the nickname Snake, he'll only say that he got it in junior high school. Mostly we call him Sarge or Simpson anyway. He's married with two kids, both are grown, though their son Jack still lives at home, he's 19 and attending U of T. Their daughter Emma is a few years older than me and lives in B.C., but I've seen her picture at their house. Sarge's wife Christine is very sweet, she's a beautician with her own beauty shop close to Queen Street.

"Morning," Sean says to us before sitting at his desk.

"Hi Sean," Luke and I greet at the same time.

Sean sits at his desk and we all start on paperwork. Unless we get a call paperwork is usually the first hour of the day. We know we have a call when Simpson emerges from his office with that look on his face.

"Body at Little Miss Steaks, need you four down there," Simpson tells us.

We all get up and start grabbing our stuff to leave when a woman walks in. Thin, frail looking with long dark hair and sallow eyes. She's sad, more than that she looks almost defeated. Yet, there's this small spark of hope in her eyes.

"I need to speak to a detective about a murder," she says. Her voice is hoarse, cracks as though she's been crying, which it appears she has.

"I'll catch up with you guys," I tell them.

"See you Edwards," Sean replies. The guys get their things, grab their service weapons from their lockers and go downstairs.

"Please have a seat," I insist motioning to the chair at the side of my desk. She gives me a small smile and sits down. "What's your name?"

"Mary Cline, formerly Bettenkamp."

"When did this murder happen?"

"Seven years ago," she tells me.

I was typing on my computer, but I freeze and look at her with this bit of information. When people come in to report murders they've usually just happened. Sometimes days, weeks or months pass before being reported because people are scared, but seven years?!

"Seven years?"

"My son was killed when he was in high school. It was never solved, the police barely looked into it. I'm dying DC Edwards, stage four cancer. They've given me six months at best. The only thing I want before I leave this Earth is my son's killer brought to justice," she pleads with me.

"What was your son's name?"

"Wesley Bettenkamp, he was in grade ten at Bardell High. His uncle, my ex-husband's younger brother, still teaches science at Bardell."

"Anything else you can tell me?"

"Wesley was very bright, he had such a bright future and it was just stolen."

"I'll look into the case, but I'll have to get permission to reopen it. Sometimes the passing of time is an advantage though, witnesses open up, relationships that were once strong are no more. Give me your current phone number and address."

"It's never changed, I still live in the same house, my number is the same. Whatever happens, thank you for trying D.C. Edwards," she smiles.

"It's Clare, I'll look at the file, see what I can bring to my boss."

"That's more than anyone else has done," she tells me with a grateful smile as she gets up.

She leaves and I look up the file on the computer. Wesley was reported missing at first, his body found two weeks later under a bridge in a part of the ravine. It was partially decomposed and there were no fibers, fingerprints or other evidence on the body. He was exceptionally bright, led a clean life filled with academic pursuits, the file lists a girlfriend at the time, a best friend who happens to be a beat officer at our precinct, I recognize the name. A few other students from the school are listed for statements including a few other friends. There's not a lot to go on, no real suspects, no one had a grudge against him, he wasn't a trouble maker. Wesley was definitely not into drugs or a gang. It isn't much to take to the boss but I'm going to try.

I get up and go Simpson's office, knocking on the glass door. He looks at me and motions for me to enter, I take a deep breath, a case this old is going to take some convincing.

"What is it Clare?" He asks when I've entered his office.

"I'd like permission to reopen an old case."

"How old?" Simpson asks leaning back in his chair a little.

"Seven years," I reply and he gives me a look. "I don't have any new evidence, but the woman that came in is the victim's mother. Her son was killed and the killer never brought to justice."

"I feel for her Clare, I do, but you know as well as I do that murders go unsolved all the time."

"I know, but she's dying. It's cancer and the doctors have given her six months at best," I inform him. I know this will get to him because he's been in remission for eleven years. "All she wants is to find her son's killer and have him held responsible before she dies. We may not be able to do that, but the case was hardly even looked into. The victim's best friend is a beat cop at this very station, Dave Turner. Just give me 48 hours, I'll re-interview witnesses, they may open up after so many years. If I can't find anything at least I tried."

"Alright Clare, your tenacity has always been something I've admired about you, even when I first met you at sixteen. You have 48 hours and no more unless you find something. See if Dave's on shift and go talk to him first, when your partner gets back I'll have him join you."

"Thanks boss," I grin.

 **(LUKE)**

"Hey Baker, where's that partner of yours?" Sean questions.

We've been at Little Miss Steaks for over an hour, the crime scene techs are doing their thing. We already saw where the victim was killed. She was a waitress here named Jess Martello, she was closing last night and her body was found in the girl's washroom this morning. She lives close by and usually walks home from work, so everyone thought she'd gone home, until the owner opened this morning. We've interviewed the owner and the kitchen staff from last night, and the owner gave us a list of everyone else that was working last night.

"Not sure," I comment taking my cell phone from my pocket. "No messages from her. She must have been held up at the station talking to that woman."

"Well, we should get back there anyway. If it's another fresh case the boss will split us to work on them, we might need to pull from other precincts."

We get back in the car and Spin drives, the three of us came in one car as I expected Clare to meet us here and bring the other. We park in the garage and walk together into the precinct on DeGrassi Street. It's one of the smallest in the city, the only one in Riverdale, but we stay pretty busy.

"There she is," I remark seeing Clare speaking to the officer at the desk.

"Is Officer Dave Turner working?" She asks him.

"What do you want with Dave?" Sean asks.

"And why didn't you meet us at the crime scene?" I question her.

"We have another case partner," she enlightens me.

"We were afraid of that, see you upstairs," Spin remarks. He and Sean go upstairs and I lean on the front desk next to Clare.

"Turner's working, he's on patrol though," the officer tells Clare.

"Then find out his location," Clare responds to the officer in a tone that says he should have done that in the first place.

"So what's the case?" I ask Clare while they're finding out Dave's location.

"A fifteen-year-old boy murdered and found in the ravine."

"I didn't see anything about that," I remark.

"He's waiting for you at the corner of Danforth and Pape," the officer tells us.

"Let's go," Clare says to me. She thanks the officer as I walk out with her.

"If a body was found in the ravine I would have heard about it," I comment as we begin walking out to the car.

"It was, only the body was found seven years ago," she enlightens me opening the car and I freeze.

"Seven years?! We're on a case that's seven years old when there's a fresh case we could be working on that's more important," I exclaim.

"A boy was murdered Luke, and he's been waiting seven years for someone to find his killer, don't you think that's more important?"

"Simpson approved this?"

"He gave me two days to look into it, to see what I can find and talk to witnesses. Dave Turner was the victim's best friend, now are you coming with me or not Luke?"

I growl slightly and begrudgingly get in the car. I'll follow my partner on this for two days, but I don't see the point, cases this old are hard to solve. Especially, when there is no new evidence. Clare drives us and we see the patrol car, she parks behind them, Dave gets out of the car and gets in the back of our car.

"I was told you wanted to speak with me," Dave inquires.

"You were best friends with Wesley Bettenkamp?" Clare asks.

Dave's face changes immediately, he looks sad, there's a longing in his eyes, but a flash of reminiscent happiness as well. He lets out a breath it sounds as though he's been holding for seven years.

"Wes, yes we were best friends. Has the case been reopened?" Dave asks in a tone filled with hope.

"Not officially, not yet, but we're looking back into it. His mother came to see me today, she's dying and asked me to look into the case again. Can you tell us about Wesley? Was there anything suspicious about him or his behavior just before he died? Did anything out of the ordinary happen before his death?" Clare questions.

Dave looks into the distance as he thinks back on seven year old memories. I see the far off look in his eye, the gloss of tears as he thinks of his long dead friend.

"No, nothing was strange before he disappeared, he was happy. He and Hannah were very happy," Dave is saying when Clare interrupts.

"Hannah was his girlfriend?"

"Yeah, they had been dating all year, they were talking about plans for summer. Wes was happy, really happy, the last time I saw him. He'd just won a science scholarship, ten grand to put toward university. Ten grand wouldn't go very far, but he was only in grade ten. He exceled in all his classes, I'm sure he would have gotten more scholarships and grants, maybe even a free ride. Wes was going to go far, I just knew that he'd discover the cure for something one day or invent something and get rich."

"Was Wes bullied in school?" I question. I'm sure of the answer before I even finish asking the question.

"Yeah, kids like him always are right? I was too, even though my dad was a cop."

"Was there anyone that was particularly vicious to him?" Clare asks.

"No, nothing really bad. Shoving in the halls, tripping, making him spill his lunch, things like that. Just jocks and bullies being cruel, he was beat up a few times over the years. Nothing worse than a black eye though. I thought about that you know, that a bully went to far and dumped the body out of fear. It was my first thought when Wes' body was found, the head injury and all, but I didn't see anyone picking on him that day."

"Thanks Dave, if you think of anything else, anything at all give me a call," Clare tells him giving Dave her card. He can always find her at the station, but her business card has her cellphone number on it.

"Yeah, I will. I'm glad someone's looking into Wes' case again, I mean really looking into it. I look through the file every so often, but I could never find anything to reopen the case. Wes deserved so much more than to be thrown into the ravine like some trash," Dave laments before getting out of our car. He walks to his patrol car again and I look at Clare.

"Well that wasn't much help. So, where to now partner?"

"Bardell, school should be over soon and Wesley's uncle is a science teacher there still."

"Drive on," I reply leaning back into the seat. I feel bad that Wesley died, I usually feel bad for the murder victims, but this is an old case and we haven't found any new leads. So far all we know is that the kid was smart, very smart, and a geek, and he got picked on. No one was super vicious with their bullying, and no one saw Wesley getting picked on that day. We have a fresh case we could be working on and I feel like we're wasting our time. Most homicides are solved in the first 48 hours and we're spending that time looking into a case that's seven years cold.

Clare drives us to Bardell High, we might be in a plain car but when we pull up it's pretty obvious that we're cops. School just let out and all the kids watch us as we walk inside. We go to the administration office and the secretary gives us a look when we come in. It's a look we're used to, not many people are happy to see cops come around.

"We need to speak with a teacher, Bettenkamp. He teaches science," Clare tells the secretary.

"Yes, Mike Bettenkamp, he should still be in his classroom," the secretary tells us and then gives us directions to his classroom.

"Mike Bettenkamp?" Clare asks knocking on the doorframe of the entry to his classroom.

"Yes?" He asks looking over at us. He's thin with angular features, short cropped dark wavy to curly hair. He looks like one of those teachers I would have liked in high school, a teacher that makes learning fun.

"I'm D.C. Edwards, this is my partner D.C. Baker."

"Mary told me she was going to try and get the case reopened. We appreciate you taking the time to look into it. Mary's a good woman, when she and my brother split and he moved away I really filled that father figure role for Wes. I always liked Mary, we've remained good friends. I wish she had told me when she first started feeling ill," he says with a regretful tone.

"Can you tell us anything about the day Wesley disappeared? Was there anything unusual that day? Anything odd about his behavior or anyone else's behavior that day?"

"No, not at all, he was so happy before he disappeared. I was at their house for dinner the night before, Wes was excited for summer and talking about all the things he wanted to do with Hannah. In the middle of dinner we got a phone call, Wes had won a science contest, the prize was a ten thousand dollar scholarship. He was stoked and left the table to call Hannah. The day he disappeared he was still riding on the wave of bliss from winning that scholarship, he was excited to tell his friends. He didn't have a class with me that semester, so the last time I saw him was lunch. He was eating with Hannah, both were smiling and happy. It wasn't until almost eight that night when Mary called that I knew something was wrong. Mary said Wes hadn't come home, he wasn't at my place, Hannah's, Connor's or Dave's. We called the cops and they searched, after a week though they thought he was a runaway, until his body was found."

Wesley's uncle looks away and wipes some tears from his eyes. Clare's been taking notes, she usually takes notes when we interview people, she's faster and neater than I am. Clare gives him a moment before continuing with her questions.

"It sounds like you were very close to Wesley, did he ever confide something to you he maybe didn't tell his mom?"

"We were very close, Wes did confide in me a lot, but nothing that would explain his disappearance or death. Things about girls, schoolwork, Wes was a good kid, studious, he never got into trouble, neither did his friends."

"Was anyone acting strange after he went missing?" I question.

"We all were, all of us that cared about him anyway. We were all afraid of what may have happened to him. Even people that didn't care about him, when Wes was missing and found dead everyone was acting strange. At least, it seemed that way. I just remember being so worried, every day that passed more and more people were worried. When his body was found it seemed to get to everyone one way or another."

"Thank you Mr. Bettenkamp, if you think of anything else please give me a call," Clare says handing him her card.

"Of course," he nods taking her card, "thank you for looking into his case again."

Clare smiles and we leave the classroom, walking out of the school and still getting stares from students and staff as we leave.

Where to now?" I ask Clare when we're back in the car.

"Back to the office, there are other people to interview but I haven't located them yet."

We drive back to the office in silence, Clare parks in the garage and we go upstairs to homicide. I walk ahead of Clare, I'm still not happy about taking this case.

"Are you two really looking into a seven-year-old case when we have a fresh one?" Spin asks as we're locking up our service weapons.

"Yes," Clare replies simply.

"I need to talk to the boss," I tell her as she sits at her desk.

I'm sure Spin and Sean will bug her more about working this old case. I knock on the door to Simpson's office, he looks up from his paperwork and waves me in. I make sure to close the door all the way before speaking.

"Boss, about this case Cl…"

"I gave Clare 48 hours Baker," Simpson cuts me off, "that doesn't give you a lot of time left to find something and get the case reopened. Your partner wanted this case that means you're on it Luke. Stick by your partner, if you don't find any new evidence the case stays closed and you help Sean and Spin on the fresh one."

"Yes Sir," I nod before leaving the office. When I get back to the bullpen area I notice my partner is missing. "Where's Clare?"

"She got mad at us for giving her grief about working on the old case. She's transcribing statements in observation," Sean tells me.

"I'm not thrilled either, but if we don't find anything by end of shift tomorrow we'll be back to helping you two. Any leads?"

"Nothing, haven't heard back from forensics yet, but right now it looks like a robbery gone wrong," Spinner tells me.

"Usually is with those kinds of cases. If you want help with anything just holler, not much I can do on this case right now," I comment.

I spend most of the afternoon catching up with old paperwork because I honestly don't know what to do with a case so old. A little before the shift ends Clare emerges from observation, she says goodnight and leaves without even taking her service weapon. I walk out with Sean and Spin, Simpson is talking with the nightshift sergeant.

"You want to get a drink?" Sean asks.

"Sure," I nod. I feel like I could use a beer today. We walk down to Blue & Gold Barand sit at the bar, it's a cop bar mostly and it's mostly cops in here as usual.

"Hey Owen," we all greet the bartender. Owen owns the bar and works as the bartender most nights. He's a good guy, he's around my age and bought the bar a couple years ago from a retired cop. That's why it was a cop bar, even though Owen was never a cop it's still a cop bar.

After we order I text Jenna that I'm having a drink with the guys and I'll be home soon. I spend a couple of hours sipping a couple of beers and chatting with Sean and Spin before deciding to go home.

"Hi Baby," I greet my wife when I come in the house.

"You look beat, why don't you go into the living room and I'll get your dinner warmed up," she says.

"Thanks, you're the best," I grin.

"Better go say hi to Davey first, he's in his room," she tells me.

I smile and walk back our son's room, he's playing, but looks over when I knock on the door.

"Daddy!" Davey grins running over to me.

"Hey Sport, what are you doing?" I ask hugging him tightly and setting him down again.

"Playing soldier," he says pointing to his action figures on the floor.

"Looks like fun, I'm going to go have dinner, but I'll be back in to read you a bedtime story," I tell him tousling his hair.

"Okay, Daddy," Davey smiles and runs back to his toys.

I leave his room going out to the living room again and sitting on the sofa. I turn on the TV and find the game, watching for a few moments before Jenna comes in with a plate for me.

"Thanks Honey," I smile kissing her gently. She sits on the arm of the sofa and kisses my temple.

"Welcome. Rough day? You seem to have something on your mind," she remarks.

"Just thinking about this case Clare dragged us into," I sigh after taking a bite.

"How did Clare drag you into a case?" Jenna inquires.

"It's a cold one, seven years old with no suspects still. A high school kid, he went missing for a couple weeks and was found dead in the ravine. The mom came in today, she's dying and she wants her son's case solved. I feel bad for the kid, I feel bad for the mom, but there was no evidence seven years ago and there's none now. Meanwhile Sean and Spinner got a fresh case, a young waitress that was just killed, and they could use our help. I can't understand why Clare wanted to take this old case."

"Luke," Jenna exclaims smacking my arm, "I'm ashamed of you! A boy was killed in high school and his killer never brought to justice. Now his mom is dying and all she's asking is that someone finds the person or persons that robbed her of her son. What if someone killed Davey and the case was never solved? Would you ever rest until his killer was found? Would you let anyone rest until you'd brought your son's killer to justice no matter how much time had passed?"

I hang my head in shame, she's right, I know she's right and I've been looking at this all wrong. "No, no I wouldn't. Clare's been trying to drill that into my head all day," I admit to my wife.

"Well, I keep telling you to listen to your partner, Clare's very bright," Jenna grins.

I set my plate next to me and pull my wife into my lap, she giggles and our lips join together. When we break from the kiss I rest my hand over hers on her belly.

"How do you feel?"

"Good, very little morning sickness and Davey's a good help. Have you told Clare yet? Or Simpson for that matter?" Jenna asks.

"No, not yet."

"Luke, I'm almost four months along, you can't hide it forever. I'm starting to think you're not excited about the baby."

"I'm thrilled about the baby, you know that. I'm just not ready to tell them, they'll treat me different, I don't want them to. Believe me I can't wait to be a father again," I assure my wife capturing her lips once more.

 **Hope you enjoyed the first chapter and are enjoying their first case. I will update soon picking up the same night in Clare's pov, and she and Luke talking with Hannah. The next story to be updated is** _ **Just a Bite.**_


	2. Seven Years of Tears

**This one is pretty long so get comfy.**

 **Ch. 2 Seven Years of Tears**

 **(CLARE)**

As soon as I unlock my front door I'm greeted by a wet sloppy kiss. Not from a husband though or even a boyfriend, no, the only guys waiting for me at home are my dogs. Hawthorne or Thorne for short is a black lab, and Wells is a bagel, that's half basset hound and half beagle. Both are named after two of my favorite authors and both are wonderful companions.

"Hi boys, I bet you're hungry," I smile scratching them behind the ears. They bark happily and follow me into the kitchen. I have a doggie door for them, the kind that only allows my dogs in with a signal from their collars. That way I don't have to worry about them being in my small house all day or other dogs getting in. My house is just a small row house, one bedroom, one and half washrooms, eat in kitchen, living room and one car garage, but it's all mine.

I put out the food for the dogs and preheat the oven to warm a frozen lasagna for me. Sitting on the sofa and turning on the TV while I wait for the oven to ding. When it does I get up and put the lasagna in, setting the timer for 45 minutes. I get a carrot, some sugar peas and cucumber from the fridge, washing the vegetables, cutting the cucumber and carrots into sticks. I munch on the vegetables and watch TV while waiting for my lasagna to cook. When the timer beeps I check the lasagna, it's hot and bubbly, so I remove it from the oven and cut a piece to put on my plate. It's a family size and will feed me for three or four days. As I get a plate down from the cupboard I glance at the only picture I have up in my house of me, Mom and Darcy.

Mom slipped into the bottle when Dad walked out on us and she never came back out. She's held dozens of menial jobs over the years, convenience store clerk, kitchen worker at a diner, laundromat attendant, wiper at a carwash. It's always minimum wage and if she manages to keep the job for more than six months it's practically a miracle. She still lives in town, but I rarely see her, we hardly even speak. The only time I usually do see her is when she shows up to ask me for money.

My sister Darcy is three years older than me, but she was never much of a big sister. Darcy started drinking and doing drugs when she was in eighth grade, she hid it for a while, but it wasn't long before she was taking Mom's liquor. Mom only cared because she ran out of liquor faster. In high school Darcy just started breaking down, I tried to help, but I couldn't help both Darcy and Mom. Darcy kept breaking down, started sleeping away from the house, and eventually she just stopped coming home at all. She's flitted in and out of my life since then. Last time I saw her she said she had cleaned up and been to rehab. She seemed sober at the time, but it doesn't mean it will stay that way.

I miss them sometimes, but I know I'm better off without either of them in my life. There are times when I believe I'd be better off without anyone in my life. The only one to be in my life consistently and be there when I need them has been Snake.

"Come on boys, let's eat in the living room," I call to the dogs as I pour myself a glass of wine.

The dogs are done eating and they follow me to the living room. I sit on the sofa, Thorne at my feet and Wells on the sofa next to me. I eat, sip my wine, watch TV and cuddle with the dogs. Cleaning up and putting the lasagna away when it's cool, I watch TV for most of the night, but my mind keeps wandering back to the case. I take a quick shower before going to bed. I read for a while, but as usual at this time of year my sleep is restless and plagued with disturbing dreams. Waking with a gasp the dogs lick my face, I let out a sigh of relief and hug them both.

"Come on boys I'll get you some breakfast," I tell them.

They follow me down to the kitchen, I put out their food and start the coffee. Returning upstairs I wash my face, get dressed, do my hair and makeup. Make yogurt with fruit for breakfast, grab my gun and shield and leave for work.

"Hey," Luke says as I'm opening the locker to put my gun in, "I found the girlfriend. She's still local we can go talk to her. I found Connor too, but he's in Ottawa, we'll have to talk to Simpson about going up there, maybe tomorrow."

"When did you get here?" I inquire taking my gun back from the locker.

"Six, I didn't sleep much and you were right. I wasn't giving my attention to this case, I didn't think it was important, but it is. Wesley's mother has been in pain for seven years wondering what happened to her son."

"I take it Jenna talked some sense into you?" I ask as we begin going downstairs.

"She usually does," Luke replies. We go down and get a car, Luke hands me a file and he drives. "Hannah Belmont works as a nurse at Toronto Western. I called earlier to find out when she'd be on duty."

"And Connor?" I question although I'm looking at the file already.

"Professor of astronomy and planetary science at the University of Ottawa," Luke tells me.

"How's Jenna doing?" I inquire as I close the file.

"Good, you should come to dinner again, maybe after we close this case."

"If we close it."

"We'll close it, we've got to. After we talk to Hannah we can talk to some of the kids that used to bully Wes. I found their names too, most of them are still in town."

"You were busy this morning."

"I told you, I couldn't sleep," Luke shrugs.

I look at the file again and see the names of the former bullies and their current whereabouts. Most of them are still in town in fairly menial jobs, it should be easy to talk to them. My gut tells me that it wasn't a bully, but it will still be good to talk to them, see what they remember. Luke parks at the hospital and we walk in going to reception.

"We need to speak to Hannah Belmont," Luke tells the reception nurse as we show her our badges.

"I'll page her," the nurse replies. She pages Hannah and a few minutes later a nurse walks out. She's tall and thin with long red hair, and an oval face. "Hannah these detectives would like to speak with you," the reception nurse informs her.

"Is there somewhere we can go to speak in private?" I ask.

"Yes, come with me," Hannah nods. We follow her to what seems to be a conference room, she motions for us to go in and closes the door behind us. "What's going on?"

"We're looking into the case of Wesley Bettenkamp again," Luke informs her. Hannah gasps and seems to lose her legs as she falls back leaning on the table. Luke reaches out to steady her, but she puts her hand out and shakes her head.

"Wes," she whispers as her eyes fill with tears.

"We know that he was happy just before his disappearance and death. Is there anything you can tell us about that day?" I question.

Hannah looks away, out the window. In her eyes a look of sorrow, yet reminiscent bliss, as if she were watching her and Wesley as kids outside that window.

"He was so excited, he was waiting for me at school that morning. He ran over and hugged me, picking me up and swinging me around," she says and her face lights up with euphoria at the memory. "He kissed me with so much passion and set me down, told me he'd won the science scholarship. He was so proud, he talked about the other contests he would enter. He had so many ideas about university and scholarships, grants. He was brilliant, he was going to go so far, he was the kind of kid that you just knew would make great things."

"What about later that day? Was he bullied? Who else did he tell about the scholarship?" Luke inquires.

"Everyone, he told everyone and they were all happy for him. Except…" Hannah begins and then her sentence drifts off.

"Except what?" I prompt.

"Connor, he was happy for Wes, he congratulated him and everything. It's just that it took him a moment, but I think it was because Connor entered the same contest. I think Connor was just a little shocked that he hadn't won. Connor was also very bright, he and Wes were two of the smartest kids at the school."

"When was the last time you saw Wesley?" I question.

"When we got out of our last class that day. He walked me to my locker, kissed me and said there was something he needed to do. That was the last I saw or heard from him, he disappeared after that. I knew he hadn't run away, he wouldn't leave, he just wouldn't."

"Was there anything else about that day? Anything odd? Was he bullied that day?" Luke asks.

"No, not that I saw or was aware of anyway. Wes had been bullied, but not that day, even the boys that bullied him regularly seemed…well happy for Wes may not be right. Perhaps just respecting his happiness that day. If you find who killed him will you tell me? Wes was the love of my high school life. I was afraid to love again for so long after Wes, when he disappeared, was found dead, it broke me in away. I pushed people away, I put all my efforts into school. I've had a steady boyfriend now for two years, but I've never really let go of Wes. Even when we buried him, there was never really closure."

"If we find his killer we'll be sure to tell you. Thank you for meeting with us Hannah," I reply and she smiles.

We go back out to the car and return to the station. After checking in with Simpson, and telling him about Connor being in Ottawa he gives us the okay to go tomorrow. We spend the rest of the day interviewing former bullies, most of them hardly remember Wesley until we tell them he went missing and was later found dead. Even then most of them refer to him as "the geek that died" instead of his name. They admit to bullying, but it wasn't necessarily personal and he wasn't the only one they bullied. All of them say pretty much the same thing, it was just high school pecking order, and they had nothing to do with Wesley's death.

"I'll pick you up at eight tomorrow, it's four hours there and four hours back," Luke says as we retrieve our guns from the lockers.

"See you in the morning partner."

 **(LUKE)**

"I don't know when I'll be home tonight," I tell my wife as I grab my coat.

"Be safe," Jenna says before kissing me goodbye.

I get in the car and drive to Clare's house, I honk and she comes out. We swing through a drive-thru coffee shop for coffee and breakfast. It's a long drive to Ottawa, Clare and I fill the time by talking about high school. She only talks about academics though, classes, teachers, how well she did. She won't talk about friends, boyfriends or her family. Not that she normally talks about her family, I know she doesn't see them anymore though.

"I'll see the best way to get to the sciences building," Clare comments when we enter the campus.

She looks it up on her phone, and gives me directions to the sciences building. It takes a few more minutes to find the nearest parking lot where we can park. Almost thirty more minutes before we find Professor DeLaurier and his classroom. He's in the middle of teaching a class, so we wait.

"Professor Connor DeLaurier?" Clare asks as we approach his desk. He just dismissed the class and a few students are still lingering.

"Yes?"

"D.C. Baker, this is my partner D.C. Edwards. We wanted to talk to you about Wesley Bettenkamp," I inform him. I expect some kind of reaction, but get none at all.

"Let's go into my office, I have an hour before my next class," he says. We follow him out of the classroom and down a couple hallways to faculty offices. He has a private office, he goes in first, we follow him in closing the door behind us.

"He's dead, Wes died a long time ago," Connor says.

"We've reopened the case," Clare enlightens him.

"What for? Why reopen old wounds? You can't bring him back," Connor says. He won't look at us and I exchange a look with Clare.

"We need you to tell us what happened that day," Clare says.

"He won the scholarship, he was happy, he got beat up by some bullies," Connor responds in a dry voice.

"You can tell us here or we can drive you back to Toronto and you can tell us at the police station," I tell him.

"I just told you what happened that day," Connor says.

"Did you see him get bullied that day?" Clare asks.

"No, but he was always bullied, he was beat up when his body was found it had to be bullies," Connor replies crossing his arms.

"He died of a head injury, he wasn't beat up. There's been no evidence it was bullies and we've spoken to all his former bullies. What really happened that day Connor? What aren't you telling us?" Clare asks and steps closer to him.

"WES SHOULDN'T HAVE WON," Connor yells and clenches his fist. He makes himself taller, staring at Clare and stepping closer to her. I'm pretty sure he's going to hit her and try and run, instinctively I get between them.

"Settle down and step back from my partner," I order him.

"Tell us what happened Connor," Clare says.

"I should have won, my paper was a million times better than his. Wes found me after school in the science lab, he asked me what was wrong. I…I exploded," Connor admits almost under his breath. "I told him he stole my scholarship and I pushed him, he fell back and hit his head on the metal corner of the table. He fell to the ground, he was dead. I panicked, I hid him in the supply closet and waited for the school to empty. I took a sack from the gym and put his body in it, drug it down to the ravine. I've tried to forget for the last seven years, but I couldn't. I haven't been able to forget that moment when I pushed him for seven years."

"Place your hands behind your back Professor DeLaurier," I instruct Connor as I get out my cuffs.

He's resigned to his fate now; he knows it's time. He holds his head down as we take him out to the car. I radio into Simpson that we're bringing in a suspect. Clare gets the name and number of Connor's supervisor and calls to let them know he's being arrested and won't be back today. It's a long drive back, at first Connor is silent and then he won't stop saying that it was an accident and he was young. After an hour of it I tell him to shut up, and he does. When we get to the station and go in through the front with Connor in handcuffs Dave is there. I see his face when he realizes Connor is in handcuffs, I know this could turn ugly fast, so I hand Connor to Clare.

"Connor? You killed Wes?" Dave asks on strangled breath.

"It was an accident Dave," Connor says.

"How could you?" Dave growls advancing toward his old friend. I catch Dave and hold him back.

"Don't, you'll get in trouble for harming a suspect. He already confessed, we'll take him upstairs to get a formal statement," I tell Dave. He nods a little, he's still clenching his jaw though. "You can ask your sarge if you can come up and be in observation, okay it with Simpson too," I comment and he relaxes a little.

"Caught your guy?" Spin asks when we get up to homicide. I take Connor and hand Clare my gun so that she can lock up our service weapons.

"You know we're still looking for ours," Sean gripes.

"We're about to wrap this case, and then we can help you," Clare replies while I get Connor into the box. It's what we call interrogation, we have two up here, but sometimes the other units use one of ours. If we're not using it and the ones for their units are full.

"We'll need to tape your confession, then it will be transcribed and you'll have to sign the printed confession. You'll be held in lockup tonight, and appear before a judge soon," I enlighten Connor. He just nods in response, I'm not sure if it's all hitting him or he's relieved it's finally over or what. "You want a pop or something to eat?" I offer and he shakes his head.

I uncuff Connor, re-cuffing one wrist to the table, and Clare starts the voice recorder. We have to prompt Connor where to start, but once he's going he talks for over an hour. Everything from first seeing Wesley that morning to when Wesley's body was found.

"I'll type it up and get him ready for processing, you should go home to Jenna," Clare says when we leave the box.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, you did the driving today, go home to your wife and son," Clare says again.

"Okay, thanks partner, I'll see you tomorrow," I reply.

She smiles and goes into Simpson's office, I start to grab my things when I see Dave come out of observation. He's sort of pale, but also looks a little green. He leans on the wall and I go over putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I know it was an accident, but how could he do that? Wes was our friend; how could he hide the body? How could he live with it for so long?" Dave questions in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Fear I guess, I don't know. That kind of thing would weigh on my conscience. We were going to call Wesley's mother and let her know we caught the killer, but maybe it would be better coming from you. We promised Hannah we would tell her too, and Wesley's uncle," I comment. It's both urging Dave to take a breath and trying to get him off our floor so he doesn't do anything stupid.

"Yeah," Dave nods, "Yeah, I'll call them."

"How's Dave?" Clare asks coming out of Simpson's office just as Dave goes down the stairs.

"Not sure, in shock I think. He's going to call Wesley's mother and tell her we caught the guy. I figured under the circumstances it might be better."

"Yeah, good idea. You should get home. I'm going to start transcribing and a couple uniforms are on their way up to get Connor processed."

"See you tomorrow," I yawn grabbing my things. I realize just how tired I am as I start to drive home, it's only a little after eight, but I didn't sleep much better last night, and it was a long day of driving. I pull into the garage, and go in through the kitchen. Jenna comes from the living room to greet me with a kiss.

"You look beat, why don't you get out of your work clothes and I'll heat you up some dinner," Jenna says.

"Thanks Honey, Davey in bed?"

"Yeah, probably asleep already, you can go in and kiss him," she tells me.

Taking off my coat and loosening my tie I quietly peek into Davey's room. He is asleep in the bed, I pull his covers up and kiss his forehead before quietly leaving his room. After changing out of my work clothes I return to the kitchen and Jenna brings me a plate. She sits with me while I eat and rinse my plate putting it in the dishwasher.

"Was it all the driving that made you so tired?" Jenna asks bringing me to the sofa.

"Partly, we caught a suspect. He was friends with the victim, it was an accident but he never said anything. Seven years and he never told anyone or did anything, he moved away. It was hard to tell if he was relieved it was over or just defeated. One of the officers at the station was also friends with the victim in high school, and the killer. It was just hard to hear, hard to watch. I like being a cop, but sometimes the things humans are capable of truly scare me."

"I know me too, but I feel better knowing you're out there catching these people. I know you're making the world a little bit safer for our son," Jenna says. I smile and kiss my wife tenderly.

"I told Clare she should come to dinner when we solved the case," I enlighten my wife.

"I'll make her favorite tomorrow night then, but you both better be here by six," Jenna says firmly.

"I'll make sure of it."

 **(CLARE)**

"Connor's getting processed, he'll go to lock up you can transcribe his statement tomorrow. Go home Clare get some rest, you two did good work today," Snake insists after the uniforms take Connor away.

"Thanks boss, I'll see you tomorrow," I smile.

Sean and Spin already left, they're waiting on forensics and seem to have hit a roadblock in their case. I get my purse, my coat, my gun from my locker and head downstairs. When I exit the building I find Wesley's mom waiting for me.

"Dave called, thank you Clare for bringing me some peace. It was hard to accept that Connor did it, such a tragic moment of anger. I just wanted to express my gratitude for the work you did. I'm meeting Mike, we're going to truly put Wesley to rest now," Mary says as she hugs me.

"I was just doing my job," I reply.

"No, it was more than that. Not everyone would look into a seven-year-old case. I tried for so long to get it reopened, no one would listen. They barely looked the first time, but now thanks to you I can die with peace in my heart," Mary smiles and she turns around going to her car.

It's now that I realize Luke picked me up this morning, so I call for a cab. The boys are hungry when I get home, and after getting their food out I start heating some of the left over lasagna for me. I can't help thinking about Mary, Wesley, Dave and Connor. A mother was tormented for seven years because no one would look into her son's death, no one really took it seriously to begin with. It took her coming in and requesting it as her dying wish even for me to get permission to look into it again. All it would have taken was someone talking to Connor, but no one took the time. How many other mothers in torment are there out there? How many unsolved cold cases in the city that no one wants to look at?

It's a question that plagues me most of the night, I should be happy that we solved the case. I am, but I'm also wondering about all the other unsolved cases. I know there are killers and other criminals out there that may never face justice because the cases weren't investigated thoroughly. With my mind restless I take a sleeping pill and fall asleep on the sofa to the TV. I wake late the next morning to the dogs barking, yawning with a big stretch, and panicking when I see the time on the microwave. I pour some food into the dogs bowls, and then I quickly grab my phone and call Snake as I run upstairs to get dressed.

"Running late?"

"Sorry, sorry, took a sleeping pill last night and overslept. I'll be there as soon as I'm dressed," I tell him while hurriedly grabbing clothes from the closet.

"Not sleeping again?" Simpson asks.

"Just the last couple of nights, I'll be in soon."

"Take your time, Baker is out with Spin and Sean doing interviews. Transcribing Connor's statement will be waiting for you when you get here," Simpson says before hanging up.

This doesn't make me move any slower and I'm out the door ten minutes later. I grab some bad coffee when I get to work and start transcribing Connor's statement. When I'm nearly done Simpson calls to have Connor brought over from lockup. He's taken back to the box and I have him read the statement and sign the bottom of each page. He won't see a judge until Friday. I'm starting the rest of the paperwork involved in our case when the guys get back. Sean and Spin are leading in a portly male with curly red hair and freckles.

"I'm telling you I didn't do it, you've got the wrong guy," he says to them.

"Quiet Dwayne, we've heard it all before," Spinner says. While Spinner takes Dwayne into the 2nd box Sean goes to check in with Simpson.

"Looks like they have a suspect," I comment to Luke.

"Yeah, petty thief named Dwayne Myers, his fingerprints were found on a window outside the restaurant and the cash register," Luke informs me.

"Sounds like a good suspect," I nod.

"Yeah, best one they have. With his fingerprint on the register seems pretty open and shut," Luke remarks sitting at his desk. "So, Jenna's making your favorite tonight, I told her we'd be there by six."

"Can't wait, it will be nice to have a home cooked meal," I grin.

Luke and I spend the rest of the day doing paperwork, leaving the office at 5:30 I follow him to his place. Luke pulls into the garage, but leaves it open so I can go in through there.

"Hi Clare," Jenna smiles hugging me tightly, "it's so good to see you."

"You as well, you look amazing," I grin back.

"Davey, come say hi to Clare," Luke calls into the house. A moment later Davey comes running in.

"Hi Clare," he grins.

"Hi Buddy, you're getting so big," I smile tousling his hair.

"You two go relax, dinner will be ready shortly," Jenna insists.

"Can I help with anything?" I offer.

"Only if you're going to help yourself to a glass of wine, otherwise go relax," Jenna asserts.

Luke takes Davey's hand and pulls him into the living room with me following. We sit down on the sofa and Davey brings over toys to us, he begins playing and engaging us sometimes. When Jenna calls us in to eat Luke tells Davey to go wash his hands. Luke and I wash ours too before sitting down. Jenna pours me some wine while Luke makes a plate for Davey.

"We have an announcement," Luke tells me after we've been eating for a little while. I stop eating and look at him expectantly. "Jenna's pregnant again, almost four months," Luke informs me and I smile.

"That's wonderful, congratulations both of you. Do you know what you're having yet?"

"Not yet, we'll find out during the next appointment," Jenna says.

"Are you excited to be a big brother Davey?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I want a baby brudder," he says with food in his mouth still.

"Davey don't talk with your mouth full," Jenna scolds handing him his napkin. "I'm hoping for a girl, there's enough male energy in this house," Jenna comments and I laugh.

"You love the male energy," Luke teases his wife.

"So Clare, dating anyone?" Jenna questions.

"Not since I broke up with the realtor, most guys don't like the hours we have," I reply.

"Maybe," Luke speaks up, "you need to date another cop."

 **(LUKE)**

"Dwayne get processed last night?" I question when I come into the office Friday morning.

"He asked for a lawyer, we had enough to keep him in lockup though," Sean says as I hang up my coat. Just as I'm about to sit at my desk Simpson opens his office door and pokes his head out.

"I need to speak with the four of you," he tells us. The tone of his voice is fairly serious and we all exchange a look. Getting up from our desks we walk into Simpson's office. He doesn't sit back at his desk, rather perches on the edge of it.

"What's up Boss?" Spinner inquires.

"The press got wind of the cold case we solved and they want to do a feature on the department," Simpson informs us. For some reason Clare gets real tense at this news, I realize that Simpson was talking directly to her. "Wasn't my idea, comes from the mayor and the chief," Simpson tells us in an apologetic tone, but again he's looking straight at Clare.

"I'm not talking to them," Clare says flatly and through clenched teeth.

"You were instrumental in solving the case Clare, you have to speak to them. They want a picture with you, Luke and the victim's mother," Simpson informs her. Clare manages to go even more tense.

"What's up?" Sean asks looking at Clare. We can all tell something is very wrong at this point.

"I don't like the press," Clare replies.

"It'll be short, a couple pictures, a few questions, most of the interview will be done with me. I made sure of it, but you'll have to talk to them a little bit Clare," Simpson tells her and she goes tense again.

"Fine, but I want preapproval of all the questions. I'm taking some lost time," Clare says and leaves quickly, she doesn't grab her coat or gun just exits the floor as fast as she can.

"What's wrong with Clare? Why does she hate the press so much?" Sean asks.

"If she wants to tell you that's up to Clare, this is going to be hard for her and it's already a hard time of year for her," Simpson says.

He doesn't elaborate though, just sits down at his desk and looks at his computer. We leave his office and return to our desks. I text Clare asking where she is, she doesn't respond. For a couple hours I help Sean and Spin with paperwork, make some phone calls following up on leads for one of the night shift cases and try to get a hold of my partner, but I don't. She doesn't return until just after lunch, and about two hours before we're supposed to meet with the reporters.

"Where have you been?" I question.

"Taking lost time, Like I said," she snaps back. Before I can ask anything else she disappears into Simpson's office. The three of us watch them talking, and Clare comes out a minute later going to her desk. I get up from my desk and walk around to hers.

"You going to tell me what's going on?" I inquire.

"Nothing," she replies.

Obviously, that's not true, but she's not going to talk so I drop it. I watch her open an e-mail from Simpson, it contains all of the questions that the reporters intend to ask us. Most are for me or Clare as Sean and Spin were never really on the case. Clare looks them over, and refuses to answer a couple of the ones that are about her personally. She sends it back to Simpson and then gets up to get some coffee, I follow her.

"Clare," I start and she glares at me, I know better than to ask what's going on again. "If you need to talk you know where I am."

She sighs a little and stops glaring at me, "I know."

Returning to our desk we spend time doing paperwork. Sean and Spin leave for a while to meet with the crown attorney. They return just before the reporters get here, four in all, and Wesley's mom Mary arrives just after them. After introductions the reporters start with questions, even having seen the questions ahead of time Clare barely answers them, she leaves most of it to me or Simpson. They have some questions for Mary too, but not many. They snap a few pictures, me and Clare, the two of us and Mary, the five of us and Mary. When they're done with pictures they follow Simpson to his office to finish the interview.

"Thank you again for everything," Mary smiles before she leaves.

"I'm taking lost time again," Clare says grabbing her coat before she leaves. I wait about thirty seconds and then grab my coat too.

"Tell the boss I'll be back," I request of Sean and Spin.

They nod and I follow Clare out, it's starting to snow a little, but she doesn't seem to care. I follow her down the street to the Blue & Gold Bar, and I watch her go in. When I come in she's just sitting down at the bar.

"It's a little early isn't it Clare?" Owen asks looking at the clock.

"Bourbon," is her only reply.

"I've never seen you drink hard liquor, it's usually wine," Owen comments.

"You sure about this?" I ask Clare.

"Pour the drink Owen," Clare orders.

Owen looks at me and I nod to say he can pour the drink, and then I get out my phone and text Simpson. I tell him where Clare is and what she's drinking, he replies saying he'll be right down. I put my phone in my pocket and watch as Clare downs that glass then orders another. When I see Simpson come in I get up and go over to him.

"Thanks Luke, head back to the station I'll take it from here," Simpson says.

I wave to Owen as I leave and walk back to the station. The reporters are gone and it seems pretty quiet now.

"Where's Clare?" Sean asks.

"Drinking at Owen's bar, drinking bourbon," I inform them.

"Seriously?" Spinner asks.

"Yeah, I texted Simpson he's with her now."

"Any idea what her problem with the press is?" Sean inquires. I just shrug in response; I have no idea what's going on with her. "We thought back on it, and we don't remember her ever dealing with the press," Sean says as I sit at my desk.

"Yeah," I nod after thinking a moment, "guess she hasn't."

I try to get back to work, but I can't stop thinking about Clare. It's about twenty minutes before Simpson gets back and Clare isn't with him.

"I sent Clare home, she's taking a couple days off," Simpson tells us.

"What's going on with her boss?" I ask.

"As I said before if she wants to tell you it's up to her. She'll be back on Monday, she just needs some time."

 **Update soon picking up Monday when Declan brings Fiona in hoping the team can solve an old case that's been haunting Fiona. The next story to be updated will be** _ **"The Way She Smiles When She Sees Me"**_ **and yes normally a short story would follow this. I've decided to premier Jekyll Clowen with the next round and not this one.**


	3. Skeletons

**Sorry it's been a while readers, RL has just been incredibly crazy. It's going to be continue being crazy for a couple of weeks, but I'll get updates up as often as I'm able to.**

 **And this chapter is fairly long so get comfy.**

 **Ch. 3 Skeletons**

 **(LUKE)**

"Feeling better?" I ask Clare when she comes into the office Tuesday morning. She'd taken the rest of Friday, the weekend and Monday off after the press came to talk to us. We never did find out what was wrong, but she had disappeared and then gone to Owen's bar to drink. She rarely drinks and the only thing I've ever seen her drink is red wine until that day.

"I'm fine," she replies hanging up her coat, "What are we working on?"

"We just wrapped a case last night, drug deal gone wrong, it was pretty open and shut," Spinner says.

"Witnesses, footage of the murder, found the gun in the drug dealer's apartment. We're just starting the paperwork," Sean tells her.

"Clare, can I see you in my office a moment?" Simpson requests just as she sits down.

She twists her mouth a little, but gets up and goes into his office. We watch her close the door and they start talking. It's hard to tell if he's worried or she's in trouble. While we're watching them in Simpson's office we don't hear someone coming in.

"Are you the cops that solve the old cases?"

We look away from the office to the source of the voice, a man around Spinner and Sean's age stands near the doorway. A female figure is partially hiding behind him. The man is tall and slender, well dressed in a suit, his dark brown hair is long and brushed back. He has a round face, to go with his round features, but his blue eyes are a stark contrast.

"Yeah, I guess that's us," I nod.

The man takes the arm of the woman trying to hide behind him and pulls her toward my desk. Her hair is darker than his, long and wavy, she has an oval face, but the same blue eyes and she's dressed just as well as the man.

"I'm Declan Coyne, this is my twin sister Fiona. She's about to be married, but before she is I think she needs to know who killed her first fiancé," Declan informs us. Before I can respond Clare comes out of Simpson's office.

"I'm Luke Baker, this is my partner Clare Edwards. That's Sean Cameron and Spinner Mason," I introduce us before looking at Clare. "Declan brought his sister in hoping we could solve the cold case of her first fiancé."

"When was your fiancé killed?" Clare asks motioning for Fiona to sit in the chair next to our desks.

"Almost 10 years ago, she was found with her throat slit a couple months after we got engaged," Fiona replies. Clare starts typing, Declan stands behind his sister, and I move my chair around, so I can continue asking questions. "We fell in love in college, we got engaged just after graduating. We were planning a life together, and then she was taken from me. It took me a very long time to let anyone in again, to love again," Fiona says.

"Could we get some coffee detective?" Declan requests.

I get the feeling that he wants to talk to me more than he wants coffee, "Yeah, this way."

"My sister's new fiancé, she's a good woman, she loves my sister and Fiona loves her. After Imogen's death Fiona changed, she's never really let go. The wedding is in two weeks; I worry that Fiona rushed it out of fear. Until she knows what happened to Imogen I'm not sure that she'll ever be able to heal. We both know there's a chance that you won't find anything, but I believe any new information on the case would help her let go."

While Declan was talking we made two cups of coffee, Declan mixed cream and sugar into both cups. We return to Fiona and Clare, I hand Fiona a mug of coffee and sit back in my chair. Clare found the case file and she's verifying information with Fiona.

"We'll have to talk to our boss, get permission to reopen the case. While we're doing that can you write down your full names, phone numbers and addresses please? Do the same for anyone you or Imogen knew back then, and are still in touch with. Having current contact information will help by saving us time tracking people down," Clare explains.

"If you need anything, just ask D.C. Cameron or D.C. Mason there, and we'll be out in a few minutes," I inform Declan and Fiona. Spin nods to us, and I follow Clare to Simpson's office. She knocks on the door and he waves us in.

"We've got another old one boss, older this time, nearly ten years. Imogen Moreno, she was found with her throat slashed shortly after getting engaged to Fiona Coyne," Clare says nodding out the window to Fiona.

"We solved one, we can solve another," I speak up.

"Look into it, but we get a fresh case I might have to pull you off."

"We could probably use Sean and Spin on this one boss, ten years is a long time," I comment.

"Okay, check with them, but they're not doing much right now. I'm sure I can get this approved by the big boys, because of the good press solving the Bettenkamp case brought us. But, they aren't going to want to put resources into a ten-year-old case for long."

"We know," Clare nods as we leave the office.

"We can reopen the case," I tell Fiona and Declan.

"Thank you, I appreciate you looking into this. We made a list, it's not that long, I lost touch with some friends from back then, and Imogen's parents," Fiona says handing the list to Clare.

"It's a good start thank you. We'll need to speak with both of you, but right now we need to find the file and go over it," I tell Declan and Fiona.

"Thank you," Declan smiles taking his sister's arm. She gives us a sad smile as they leave.

"We could use your help on this one, if you have the time?" I ask Sean and Spin.

"Yeah, we have time, we're pretty much done with the paperwork," Sean says.

Clare finds the original case, she gives us all the case number, so we can look it up. Each of us sits at our desks looking over the original case file. There isn't much, Fiona gives an account of her whereabouts that day, as do Imogen's parents and a couple of her co-workers. There doesn't seem to be a lot of people interviewed that day. Declan was interviewed, but Fiona's parents weren't in town. According to the file the last time anyone saw Imogen was a few minutes past five when she was leaving work, and five hours later she was dead. Found in an alley with her throat slashed, it was raining that night and the rain washed away a lot of the evidence. So, what they originally found was five hours that couldn't be accounted for, and no suspects.

"Looks like all the original investigation came to was that it was a possible hate crime," Sean comments.

"It's a possibility, a lesbian couple newly engaged, but a slit throat is not something you typically see with a hate crime. Hate crimes generally involve more hate, more rage. Beating, strangling, hanging even crucifixion, this seems more personal," Clare remarks.

I look over her shoulder and see that she's looking at crime scene photos. She's got at least half a dozen up on her screen, all of the body from various angles.

"We should split up, start the interviews. You two can take Imogen's parents, we'll start with Declan and Fiona," I tell Sean and Spin.

"Ten years is a long time, I don't think we're going to get a lot of clear memories from that day," Spinner comments.

"If they have something to hide you will, they'll have memorized an alibi and be able to account for everything they did," Clare points out.

We tell the boss we're going out for interviews, and split up. We know where Declan and Fiona are, Clare calls Declan to make sure they can meet us. They're both at Fiona's house, Declan says they'll wait.

"You should tell the others that Jenna is pregnant," Clare comments after we've been driving for a few minutes.

"They're going to treat me different, they won't let me do things," I reply.

"We're homicide, not vice or organized crime, we're not in dangerous situations very often. They need to know, and Jenna might need you after the baby is born, you'll have to put in for time off," Clare reminds.

"Yeah, I know. I'll tell them soon."

 **(SEAN)**

"We need to speak with Doctor Natalie Granger," I tell the reception nurse.

"I'm afraid she's with a patient right now, what's this regarding?"

"Just have her call us when she's free," I reply handing the nurse my business card.

"Is this something the hospital should be worried about?"

"No, it's a personal matter," Spinner replies.

We get back in the car and while Spinner drives I try contacting Imogen's father. There was a cell phone number listed for him in the old case file. The number's disconnected though, no help there. We go to his address listed in the original case file, but no one is home. Hopefully, his ex-wife will know how to get a hold of him.

"I hope Clare and Luke are having better luck than we are," I comment as we get back in the car.

"Who else we got on the list?" Spinner questions.

"A couple of their friends from college, Fiona's family. I'll text Luke and Clare, see where they're at and then call some of these people to set up interviews. I'll have Clare get a list from Fiona of people in her or Imogen's life back then that Fiona is no longer in touch with. We'll have to do some research," I tell Spin.

He nods and starts driving back to the station. Clare says they're still interviewing Fiona, and she'll have Fiona make up a list of people while they interview Declan. She also says Fiona's parents are flying in later today and Declan will ask them to come into the station tomorrow for their interview. I don't talk to anyone, everyone lets their voicemail pickup and I have to leave a message.

Shortly after returning to the station we do get returned calls from a couple of the people we called. One of their college friends and Fiona's cousin agree to come in for interviews later this afternoon. Spin and I spend time looking over the original case file again. A few leads were investigated, they thought it might have been a botched robbery at first, but Imogen's purse and wallet weren't even touched.

Clare and Luke return with the list of people for us to try and find. The two people that agreed to come in show up at the same time. We interview them one at a time in the box. The interviews don't take very long, they have nothing to offer.

While we do the interviews Clare and Luke go to the evidence storage locker to find the physical evidence from the original case. Spin and I manage to track down a few of the people on Fiona's list, we even manage to talk to a couple. One is still fairly local; they live in Brampton which is close enough that we can set up an interview without requesting travel.

"I'm going to grab a drink," Spin comments when we punch out.

"Yeah, a drink sounds good," I nod.

"You two coming?" Spinner asks.

"I should get home to Jenna," Luke shakes his head.

"I'll come," Clare says.

We say goodnight to Snake and the night shift that's just getting here. The three of us walk down to The Blue and Gold, I hold the door open and let Clare go first.

"Hey guys," Owen greets us.

"Hi Owen," we reply together. We grab a booth and sit down, Owen comes over to take our order. We don't need menus because it never changes, simple bar food and a lot of drinks. We all order food, Spin and I get beers, Clare gets red wine, and when she orders this Owen looked relieved.

"She looks like she's doing better," Owen comments as he refreshes our beers. He seemed to wait until Clare was in the washroom to come over.

"Yeah, guess she just needed a couple of days. What happened on Friday?" Spinner asks.

"She came in and ordered bourbon, she had three shots before Simpson showed up. She seemed upset, angry actually really angry. Simpson said he knew it was a hard time for her, and she should take a couple of days, get her head straight," Owen tells us.

I open my mouth to say something, but see Clare returning from the washroom, so I close it. Owen asks if she wants another glass of wine and she shakes her head.

"Well, I should probably get home to the boys, they'll be really hungry," Clare comments taking the last sip of her wine.

"See you tomorrow Clare," I nod.

"Goodnight Clare," Spinner says.

Spin and I slowly finish our beers and our food, neither of us has anything to go home to. No one is waiting for us, not even pets. Eventually though, there's no more reason to stay around the bar and we both pay our tab. Having nursed a couple of beers over several hours we're both okay to drive home.

I live in a rented row house, an old brick one, I'm only a few blocks from the station. It's not a big place, but I don't need a lot of space. I have a two car garage, one spot for my car, the other for my motorcycle. Tracker and I were fixing up the bike when he was killed. I spend a little time working on it whenever I can. I'm constantly fixing something, changing something, improving something. It was nearly finished when Tracker died, but now I'm just never happy with it.

I shower, watch TV for a while, and fall asleep on the sofa. Waking up a couple hours later to my cell ringing. I'm sure it's from the station, if the night shift gets busy we can get called in. Or if there is some big break in a case we're working. I rub my eyes, grab my phone and look at the display, it's not the station.

"Mom? What time is it?"

"Ten after midnight, your father was just arrested. You need to go and get him out," she tells me.

"Arrested for what?"

"We were arguing; you know how he is when he drinks."

"I'm not getting him out Ma, he's never going to change. He treats us like crap, he always has and we keep bailing him out. I'm not doing it anymore, and neither should you. Maybe a few days in jail will be good for him."

"Sean he's your father," Mom says in a pleading voice.

"No, he's an asshole, Tracker raised me more than that man ever did. He saw his mistakes only after Tracker died, well I'm not enabling him anymore. I love you Ma, but I can't do this any longer."

With that I hang up and turn off my phone. I'm awake now, awake and angry, and I can't sleep. I change shirts, get in my car and drive out to this spot Tracker used to take me. We usually came on his bike, but whenever I was angry or upset he'd bring me here. Just a quiet little road on a hill that looks out over the city. Nothing around for miles, and I could yell, and scream, and anything else and it was just me and Tracker. He's not here now, but it helps still, it helps just to be here, I can almost feel him here.

I sit outside on the hood of my car for a while, and when I get cold I get in the car. I end up falling asleep again, but only for an hour or so. When the sun begins streaming in the car I wake up. I don't want to go home, so after stopping at a donut shop for donuts and good coffee I go into work. The night shift is still here, but I go to my desk. I find a message from Imogen's mom on my phone. She says she can meet this morning, but only before she goes into work, she leaves her cell phone number, so I call her back.

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Granger, it's D.C. Cameron. Do you have time to meet?"

"Yes, you can come here in an hour, after my kids have gone to school."

She gives me the address and hangs up. No one else from the day shift is likely to be here in an hour, so I'm prepared to go alone. Then Luke shows up just as I'm about to leave. He looks like he didn't sleep much either.

"Rough night?" I question.

"Yeah, you too?"

"Yeah. Since you're here you can come with me to interview Imogen's mom. I was just getting ready to leave," I tell him.

We see Simpson on our way out and tell him where we're going. I punch the address into the GPS and I drive, we're both really silent on the drive. I can see that Luke is holding back on something. When we get to the house I'm worried Mrs. Granger skipped out on the interview, no cars in the driveway and it doesn't look like anyone is home. When I knock though she opens the door.

"Natalie Granger?"

"Yes, please come in," she says stepping aside so that we can enter. "You've re-opened my daughter's case, was there a new lead?"

"No, it was by request. Declan and Fiona Coyne came in to see us and asked that it be re-opened.

"I heard she was engaged again, I don't know why they would want Imogen's case opened again. So, what do you need from me? I don't know what I can tell you that I didn't tell the officers the first time."

"According to the file you hadn't seen or spoken to your daughter in over a week?" I inquire.

"Yes, that sounds right. Imogen and I had a strained relationship, she blamed me for leaving her father and falling in love again. We began slowly rebuilding our relationship when she was in high school, but it wasn't uncommon for me to hear nothing from her for several months. I found out she was dead by reading it in the paper."

"Do you know where your ex-husband currently resides? Or have a current phone number? We haven't been able to reach him," Luke tells her.

"He's at St. Matthews, a live in psychiatric hospital."

"When did he go in?" I question.

"Not long after our daughter's murder. He has a form of early onset dementia; he was first diagnosed when we were together. It's partly what drove us apart, arguing about his care, when and what to tell Imogen. It was controlled for the most part with medication, but he would have…episodes," she says after thinking about what word to use. "After Imogen died, he lost it completely. These days, he's hardly ever lucid."

"We'll still need to speak to him, do you have the name of his doctor?"

"Lane, Marion Lane, but as I said Louis is hardly ever lucid, he won't be able to tell you anything. Honestly, I don't know why you're even stirring up these old ghosts. My daughter is dead, nothing will bring her back."

"You don't want to find your daughter's killer?" I question not believing what I'm hearing.

"I don't see how stirring up painful memories will help anyone, and Louis can't tell you anything. The original investigators thought it was a hate crime or robbery gone wrong. I've answered your questions, now if you'll excuse me I have to get ready for work," she says waving us to the door.

"What kind of parent doesn't want their daughter's murder to be solved?" Luke questions as we get back in the car.

"I don't know, she said their relationship wasn't very good, sure seems like she's hiding something. And, her father went off the deep end after Imogen's death, that's suspicious too. Guess every family has their skeletons, some more than others," I comment on a heavy breath as I think about last night. "My mom called in the middle of the night to tell me my father had been arrested again. She wanted me to bail him out, I told her no and hung up on her, I just can't do it anymore."

"That sucks, but you did the right thing, if they think you'll always step in they'll never change."

"Yeah, I know. I should have done it a long time ago, but after Tracker's death they were the only family I had."

"Hey, you got us, your family at the station," Luke says and I grin. "Jenna's pregnant again, almost four months, we find out what it is tomorrow."

"Hey that's great, congratulations. It's nice to hear some good news," I say and now Luke smiles.

 **(SPINNER)**

"Hey Clare," I greet her as I step off the elevator. She's locking up her gun, she closes her locker and turns to smile at me.

"Hi Spin, looks like we beat our partners in," she comments. I look over to see Sean and Luke's desks empty.

"Must be sleeping in," I shrug. I lock up my gun, and follow Clare in, just as I'm about to sit at my desk Simpson comes out of his office.

"Sean and Luke went to speak to Imogen's mother," Simpson tells us.

"I hope they find something," Clare comments.

"We have some calls to return, some interviews to arrange," I remark. Simpson nods and returns to his office, Clare and I turn on our computers.

"I'll see if I can find a number for Imogen's dad, he seems to have dropped off the map," Clare says.

I nod and start making phone calls, I arrange a couple of interviews for this afternoon. I'm about to make another phone call when I see a woman come in.

"Can I help you?" I ask her. She's got orangish-red hair, she's a little on the chubby side, but she carries it well. Her round eyes are brown, and her lips are pressed into a thin line. She's worried, a lot of people are worried when they come into our office.

"I'm Penny Entwistle, I got a call from a D.C. Mason."

"That's me, this is D.C. Edwards," I tell her getting up and also introducing Clare.

"You wanted to talk about Imogen? Has her case been reopened?" Penny asks.

"Please have a seat," Clare insists directing Penny to the seat by my desk.

"We have reopened the case, you uh…" I pause shuffling the papers on my desk until I see Penny's name on one and the notes I wrote down. "You worked with Imogen, is that right?"

"Yes, we worked at Baroque, it's an art store that also did classes."

"Were you and Imogen close?"

"Yeah, we were like the three musketeers. Me, Imogen, Jack, I loved working with the two of them, it never seemed like work," Penny grins.

"That wouldn't be Jack Jones would it?" Clare questions.

"Yeah," Penny nods. Clare and I exchange a look, Fiona didn't mention that her current fiancé worked with her murdered one.

"Did you know Fiona Coyne? Imogen's fiancé at the time she died?"

"I met her a few times, she came in to bring Imogen food or just stop by, after a few months she stopped coming. Imogen and I sometimes hung out after work, Jack didn't usually join us though, well…she did at first, but that stopped after a few months too. Then Jack quit a couple months later, said she got a better job. I got the feeling something was going on between Fiona and Jack sometimes, and Imogen had a jealous side, not that she ever showed it to us. She never even talked about her relationship with Fiona."

"Then, how do you know Imogen had a jealous side?" I inquire.

"I saw them arguing once, away from work. It was a Saturday morning, I was at breakfast with my boyfriend, they happened to be at the same restaurant, I didn't know it until I went to the washroom. They came in and were arguing, I recognized Imogen's voice and peeked through the crack in the stall door. Fiona was with her, Imogen was accusing Fiona of flirting with the waitress and Fiona was trying to calm her down. I waited until they were gone to come out, Imogen was real jealous though, seemed kind of possessive, it was scary. It wasn't long after that Imogen was found dead."

"You saw her the day she was found dead?"

"Yes, but only at work earlier that day. She clocked out and said goodnight, that was it. I saw the story on the news the next morning, about Imogen's murder."

"Anything strange about that day? Or that week even? Anyone threaten Imogen? Did she argue with anyone?"

"No, nothing, she talked a lot about the wedding, that was it," Penny says.

"Thank you for your time, we may need to contact you again if we have further questions," I tell her. Penny nods and I take down her current phone number before she leaves.

"So, Imogen was the jealous type, she worked with Fiona's current fiancé, and Jack quit working with Imogen," Clare remarks when Penny is gone.

"Yeah, that's got to be more than a coincidence."

"We'll need to speak with Fiona again," Clare says just as I get a text.

"Sean and Luke are on their way back."

"Good, we have a lot to tell them, I wonder if they learned anything from the mom."

Clare starts writing down what we learned from Penny, while I continue calling people. When Sean and Luke get back Clare and I both stand up.

"We learned some real interesting stuff from the mom," Sean says.

"We talked to Imogen's co-worker, and learned some real interesting things too," I tell them.

"Us first," Luke says locking up his gun and walking over. "Imogen's mom basically told us to stop trying to solve the case."

"Why would she say that?" Clare inquires.

"No idea, but it gets better. Imogen's dad is in the nut house," Sean tells us.

"Yeah, he has early onset dementia, but according to the mom he really went downhill after Imogen was found dead. So, what did you guys learn?" Luke asks.

"Imogen used to work with Fiona's current fiancé. According to the co-worker Imogen could be jealous and possessive. Penny said she suspected something may have been going on between Fiona and Jack back then," I enlighten them.

"Looks like our suspect pool just got a lot bigger," Clare comments.

"We'll see if we can get an interview with the dad, we'll have to go through his doctor," Sean remarks.

"I'll call Fiona, set up a new interview with her given the new information we have," Clare says.

"We should talk to Jack too, but make sure we do these interviews separately," Luke speaks up.

"You know, we should probably interview Declan too, see what he knew about Imogen's jealousy. If he knew about anything going on between Jack and Fiona," I comment.

While Clare and Luke go into Simpson's office to fill him in on what we all found out Sean and I start making phone calls. We've had no luck with Mr. Moreno's doctor so far, but Simpson is working on it too. An hour later Fiona and Jack are at the station to give interviews, Declan was busy, but he'll come in later. Luke and Clare interview Jack, Sean and I take Fiona.

"You knew Jack back when she and Imogen worked together?" I ask her. She sits nervously perched at the edge of her chair, sitting straight and looking down.

"We met when I brought Imogen lunch one day. I'd heard about her, Imogen talked a lot about Jack and Penny. I called her Jackie when I first met her, Jack hated it even then. She refuses to answer if you try and call her Jaqueline or Jackie," Fiona rambles nervously.

"Was there more to your relationship with Jack than acquaintances back then?" Sean questions.

"No, no she worked with Imi, that's how I knew her, that was it," Fiona says quickly.

"You know Clare and Luke are asking Jack the same thing. We need to know if there was a relationship Fiona. Don't you want to know what happened to Imogen?" I inquire.

"Jack didn't kill Imi, she couldn't have. They were friends, Jack isn't violent," Fiona spits back defensively and angrily, but still won't look at us.

"That isn't what we asked, what was the nature of your relationship with Jacqueline Jones at the time of Imogen's death?" Sean questions.

Fiona makes a heavy sigh, looking at a ring on her hand, she begins twisting it on her finger. "Not what you're thinking. Jack and I did meet at Imi's work, there was an initial attraction for both of us. She came to the loft one day, bringing something by for Imi. We started talking and," she releases another heavy breath, "we had an affair."

"Did Imogen find out?" I query.

"No, I don't think so. It was just that one night, I told Jack it could never happen again. Not long after that she quit Baroque, I didn't see her after that. Not until after Imi's death, Jack helped me get through Imogen's loss."

"I'm sure she did," I remark, "we've heard that Imogen was the jealous type."

"No, not jealous exactly," Fiona replies twisting the ring on her hand again, "just afraid of losing me I think. I was going to go to Italy after college, Imogen freaked out, sabotaged my chance. It almost broke us up. I think she was afraid of being alone, worried…overly worried about losing me and being alone. Her dad was slipping, his mental health wasn't stable, Imogen was losing him. And, her relationship with her mom was shaky at best, they saw each other, but she didn't really have her mom, in many ways I was all she had."

"So, in her fear of losing you Imogen could go over the top. Could she have found out about you Jack? Maybe tried to go after Jack and…"

"NO," Fiona screams cutting Sean off, "no Imogen wouldn't have found out and she wouldn't have gone after Jack. Imogen was worried about losing me, but she wasn't violent. She has no idea about me and Jack, I'm sure of it."

I exchange a look with Sean, we're not so sure. Sean turns off the recorder and we take Fiona out to the bullpen. It's almost half an hour before Clare and Luke come out with Jack. Fiona and Jack kiss, we tell them that we'll be in touch and may need to speak to them again. When they leave the four of us go into Simpson's office. After filling in the boss on our interviews we start on the paperwork.

Simpson comes out after a while to tell us that Mr. Moreno's doctor will meet with us tomorrow, and we can maybe talk with Mr. Moreno for a few minutes. We talk to a few others today, Fiona's parents come in, but they don't have any new information. We do a couple phone interviews with old co-workers of Fiona's and Imogen's college roommate, but again they have no new information to offer. Declan comes in, but says he never saw Imogen's jealous side. He did know that Imogen was the reason Fiona never went to Italy after college, but not that Imogen had sabotaged it. Declan said he had no idea that Jack and Fiona had any relationship while Imogen was alive.

It's still looking like our prime suspects are Jack and possibly Imogen's own father. Although, I'm not entirely convinced her mother didn't have something to do with it. The way she was so insistent about not looking into the case. I just don't see a motive for the mother.

As it stands Jack had the means, motive and opportunity. She and Fiona had an affair, Imogen stood in her way. She worked with Imogen, it would have been easy for Jack to lure her out, get rid of Imogen so she could be with Fiona. In Fiona's own words Jack helped her get over Imogen's loss.

"I gotta get home to Jenna," Luke says shutting down his computer. Evening shift is just starting to come in.

"I'm going to my mom's for dinner, see you tomorrow," I comment seeing the time.

"Wanna grab a drink Clare?" Sean asks her.

"Yeah, sure, just let me finish this up," she replies.

I shut down my computer and grab my coat, and my gun, wave to Clare and Sean as I leave. Mom lives in a small apartment in Yorkville. For the longest time she wouldn't leave the apartment I grew up in, and Kendra's bedroom was kept just the same. Finally, a year ago I convinced her to move. Even if Kendra was alive and did come back she wouldn't be fifteen anymore, she'd be thirty and she wouldn't want the room she had at fifteen.

"I'm here," I call into the apartment. I have my own key, so there's no need to knock.

"Hi Sweetheart, sit down get comfortable. I got some beers, they're in the fridge," Mom says hugging me with a wooden spoon in her hand. It's got red sauce on it and I smell it cooking. She goes back to the stove and I grab a beer from the fridge and sit at the kitchen table. "You know one of these weeks I wish you'd bring a girl home," Mom comments as she stirs the sauce.

"I don't have time to meet women, and the ones I do meet I wouldn't want to date. I promise if I do meet a girl you'll be one of the first to know," I assure her.

"Eliza Winters has a nice daughter, a pharmacist, I could set you two up."

"Ma, we talked about this, no setting me up. I'll meet someone when I meet someone."

She gives me a look, but doesn't say anything else, just goes back to preparing dinner. Soon it's on the table and we start eating, I have dinner here at least once a week or I'd never have a home cooked meal.

"Any progress on your sister's case?" Mom asks. She always asks and I always have the same answer.

"No, it's cold like it's always been. I use every spare minute I have to follow up leads and look, but Kendra just vanished. If I get new direction, if I find anything Mom I'll tell you. We're working another old case, if we solve this that will be two cold cases solved, there's always hope that we'll solve Kendra's case. We just can't lose hope."

 **Update soon picking up the next day with a prime suspect and a new case is brought to the team. One that will put one of the team in danger. Next story to be updated is "** _ **Why Do I Want Him Still?"**_


	4. Give 'em Tears For Cherry Red Blood

**Hello Readers, I'll get chapters up as quickly as I can, but they will still be slow for a while.**

 **Ch. 4 Give 'em Tears For Cherry Red Blood**

 **(CLARE)**

"Dr. Marion Lane?" I inquire when the thin woman with gray hair and wire frame glasses comes out to meet us.

"Yes, you must be the detectives," she replies politely. She shakes our hands politely, but reluctantly. She'll cooperate because she doesn't have a lot of choice, but she doesn't like that we're here.

"I'm D.C. Cameron, this is D.C. Edwards," Sean nods.

"Louis is still eating breakfast, we can speak in my office and I'll see if he's up to speaking with you when we're done."

We follow her back to her office, it's as neat and proper as she is. Sean and I sit down in the uncomfortable wooden chairs opposite her desk. Her chair has a high back, is made of leather, has thick arms and looks very much like a throne. By the way she seats herself in it and looks down on us you can tell she sees it as a throne.

Sean and I were the first ones in this morning, and so we were given the interview with the doctor and Imogen's father. Luke and Spin will be interviewing Fiona, Jack and Penny again.

"We understand Mr. Moreno was committed here not long after his daughter's death," Sean starts off.

"Yes, not so surprising, he was already starting to lose his faculties and then his daughter was killed. In such a tragic manner no less. That would send just about anyone over the edge, don't you think?"

"I do, but we would be remiss in our duties if we didn't follow up on any family member committed to a mental hospital shortly after an unsolved murder," I reply.

"It's not impossible that Louis did something, but you have to understand with his condition he wouldn't remember, or know what he did."

"Are you saying he was hallucinating?" Sean questions.

"No, not exactly, it's more that patients such as Louis don't realize they've done something. They don't remember or they remember it wrong."

"Was he talking about Imogen's death when he first arrived here?"

"He was ranting about all kinds of things, mostly about Imogen, but of course she had just died. He wasn't at all lucid, nothing he said made any sense," the doctor tells us. There's something about her, something that makes it feel as though she's hiding something.

"May we speak to Louis now please?" I request.

"Wait here a moment, I'll see if he's done with breakfast and have him brought back to his room," she sighs. She's very reluctant to let us speak with him, I can't tell if she's being protective of her patient, or she's trying to hide something. "Louis is being brought back to his room, you can meet with him in there. Come with me," she says motioning for us to leave her office.

Louis' name is on the door of his room, so we know which is his, and once we are there Dr. Lane leaves. Two orderlies stand just outside the door, a man sits on the bed inside the room, he's looking at a book and doesn't seem to notice when we enter. The small room contains a bed, a bookshelf, a desk and a chair by the window.

"Mr. Moreno," I speak as we walk in, "I'm D.C. Edwards and this is D.C. Cameron. We're here to speak with you about your daughter, Imogen."

He looks up at us now, his face is calm and almost sad, yet there's something in his eyes. A panic or frantic worry, it's hard to place but it sends a chill through me.

"Imi? Is she here? It's been so long since I've seen her," he says with an almost heart-breaking melancholy voice.

"No, Imogen was killed. Someone killed her almost ten years ago, slit her throat. We're trying to find out who killed her," Sean says.

"She came by, you just missed her, she was here," Mr. Moreno responds. I exchange a look with Sean, is Mr. Moreno remembering something or hallucinating because his brain can't wrap around the fact that someone killed his daughter.

"When was she here?" I ask. This time he just looks at us blankly and then looks down at his book again. I kneel down to get on his level, look him in the eye, and sort of force him to look at me. "Mr. Moreno, Louis, someone killed your only daughter, cut her throat and ended her life violently. I know you loved your daughter, help us find her killer and bring him to justice."

"Someone hurt Imi," he says in a small sort of far off voice. It's not a question he's just parroting what I am saying.

"When was the last time you saw Imogen?" Sean inquires.

Mr. Moreno looks up at Sean, then at me, I smile encouragingly as I rise again. Mr. Moreno looks away from both of us now, gazing at a painting on the wall. It's an abstract painting, but to him it may have some special meaning. Though he seems to be gazing through the painting, somewhere in his mind, his memory.

"Imi…she came to the house," he says slowly. His voice is distant, almost detached. "She and…and…" his mind struggles to remember a name.

"Fiona," Sean offers in a soft voice.

"She and Fiona were engaged, Imogen was so happy," he says with a grin and then it fades, "she wanted her grandmother's wedding ring. I told her no, we fought about it, she doesn't speak to me anymore or come see me."

I exchange a look with Sean, given the man's mental state I don't know how accurate that information was. He talked about a memory, and then talked about Imogen as though she was still alive. He's back to reading his book, so Sean and I quietly leave the room, walking down the hall a little way before we speak.

"Let's ask the doctor about the ring, if he had it with him when he was checked in then it would be documented. The ex-wife or Fiona may know what happened to it as well," Sean remarks and I nod. We find Dr. Lane in her office doing paperwork of some kind.

"Learn anything?" Dr. Lane asks without looking up from her desk.

"When he was checked in was there a women's ring in his possession?" I query.

"I don't recall; I'll have our front desk check his paperwork. If there's nothing else I have quite a lot of work to do," she replies curtly.

"Thanks for your cooperation," Sean responds just as curtly. He puts his hand on my back and we walk to the front desk. The woman at the front desk is just hanging up the phone.

"If you'll wait just a moment I'll check Mr. Moreno's intake paperwork," she tells us. She types on the computer and clicks the mouse a few times before looking back at us. "No rings, just books and clothes when he was first checked in. His ex-wife brought some other things later, but no rings."

We thank her and leave, as Sean starts driving back to the station I text Luke. I tell him to ask Fiona about Imogen's grandmother's ring. I'm still unsure if Mr. Moreno was helpful or more harmful.

"We should get a hold of Imogen's mother, see if she remembers the ring or knows what happened to it. What happened to all of her ex-husband's things," I remark.

"Good idea, call the hospital, see if she's working today."

I call the hospital, they tell me she's off today, so I call her cell phone and she reluctantly agrees that we can stop by for a few moments. Sean starts driving there, and I check in with the boss to let him know where we are.

"You spoke to Louis?" Mrs. Granger questions.

"Yes, and given his mental state we're not sure how accurate the information was. He did say something that caught our attention though. Did he have a ring belonging to his mother?"

"Yes, her wedding ring, it was our engagement ring. I gave it back to him when we separated, he planned to pass it on to Imogen."

"What happened to all his things when he went into the mental hospital?" Sean asks.

"There's a storage unit, I opened it. Imogen was his only family; I couldn't bear to sell all his things. The ring is probably in there; I didn't look at the things when they were packed up. I hadn't been to the house in years, I took some of Louis' favorite books and paintings to him, the rest went into the storage unit."

"Do you know if Imogen was planning to give the ring to Fiona?" I question.

"No, as I said we were hardly on speaking terms, but it wouldn't surprise me."

"Thanks for your time Mrs. Granger, we may have more questions and may need to search the storage unit," Sean tells her.

She nods and says she has the key if we do need it. She shows us out and Sean drives us back to the station.

 **(LUKE)**

"Fiona," I speak up after looking at the text from Clare, "did Imogen ever say anything about her grandmother's ring?"

Fiona looks thoughtful for a moment, searching her memories. "Yes, she told me about it once, though I never saw it. That was long before we got engaged, but…" she says and then her sentence drifts away.

"But?" Spinner prods.

"The day she was killed, before she left for work that morning she told me she would be late. She said that she had something important to do, something she needed for the wedding. It never occurred to me that she might be getting the ring, I just thought she had some surprise for the wedding."

"Thank you Fiona, we'll be in touch," I tell her as I stand up.

"Since Penny can't meet with us until later I think we should go back to the station," Spinner remarks while we get back in the car. We had interviewed Jack and Fiona separately this morning, not that either had much to add. We were going to re-interview Penny as well, but she was working and couldn't meet us until this afternoon. "Between what Fiona said, and what Clare and Sean found out about the ring I think we have enough for a warrant for Mr. Moreno's old house."

When we arrive back at the station Clare and Sean are back, Simpson comes out of his office to talk with us. After briefing Simpson, he agrees we have enough for a warrant and goes in to contact the judge. When I see he's off the phone I go in, everyone else knows that Jenna is pregnant again, but I need to tell the boss.

"It'll take a couple of hours, but we got the warrant. Mr. Moreno's house was sold, you'll have to serve it on the new owners," Simpson informs me.

"Can I take a couple hours of lost time then? Jenna has an appointment with the OB/GYN and I'd like to be there. We're going to find out if we're having another son or a daughter."

"Congratulations Luke, take the time, if you can meet the others at the house that's good, but take time with your wife. Let me know what you both need in the next few months, and if you want to take any time off after the baby is born."

"Yeah, I will thanks boss."

I tell the others where I'm going, I leave my badge and my gun and drive home. I call Jenna on the way, she already got a sitter for Davey and she's waiting outside when I pull up to the house. I drive us to the doctor's, and we wait a few moments, finally we're taken back. They take Jenna's vitals and then the doctor comes back, after a little discussion and questions they prepare the ultrasound.

"Congratulations, you are having a son," the doctor says.

I smile at my wife and lean down to kiss her. The doctor prints out an ultrasound picture and Jenna asks a few more questions before we leave.

"Are you happy we're having another boy?" I ask Jenna.

"Very, I wanted a girl, but I love Davey and I love you," she grins taking my hand.

"I don't have to be back at the station for half an hour, why don't we go pick up Davey. We can take him out for ice cream and tell him he's going to have a little brother," I suggest.

"That sounds like a great idea," she smiles back.

We pick Davey up and go out for some ice cream, he's super excited to hear he's having a little brother. I drop Jenna and Davey back at home and return to the station.

"We're having a boy," I announce as soon as I come in.

"Congrats Buddy," Sean grins.

"Way to go," Spin smiles.

"That's great, give my love to Jenna when you see her," Clare says.

"Congratulations Baker," Simpson smiles from his doorway, "we just got the warrant. CSUis waiting downstairs for the four of you."

Spinner takes the warrant and we go downstairs. The crime scene guys take their van and follow in another car with two more techs. The four of us take one car, leading the way to Mr. Moreno's old house. The woman that answers the door is quite startled to see four detectives and a crime scene unit at her doorstep.

"Can I help you?" She asks nervously.

"We're sorry to do this Ma'am but we have a warrant to search the premises," I tell her while Spinner shows her the warrant.

"I don't understand, nothing happened here," she says.

"Not while you've been living here, we think this may be a crime scene from nearly ten years ago. I'll explain everything," Clare says stepping up and the woman steps aside.

Clare takes her into the living room to explain, the three of us split up with the tech guys. Sean goes with one into the kitchen, Spinner goes upstairs with two of them, I go with one down the hallway on the first floor, we find a den with lots of built in bookshelves. Looks like it was a study or office at one point. I help the tech cover the windows, put on gloves and move the rug covering most of the floor. The tech sprays the floor, and then things like the door frame, window frames, crease at the air vents. When I turn off the lights the room starts glowing like a neon sign.

Blood, lots of blood in this room. You can still see spatters, how it pooled around Imogen's body. I'm not sure it was even cleaned, Mr. Moreno must have dumped her body, maybe tried to paint over it, or just moved in a carpet to cover the blood on the floor. Who knows how long it was before Mrs. Granger came to pack things up, if the blood dried before the carpet was brought in then it would have looked like a rust colored stain. If you don't want to think it's blood you won't see blood.

"Start taking pictures, I'll get the others," I tell the tech and she nods. I leave the study and almost bump into Sean as he comes out of the kitchen.

"Nothing in there," he says.

"There, we have our crime scene," I tell him pointing at the study. I find Clare in the living room with the lady of the house, though they aren't talking anymore. "Clare," I call to her. She gets up and comes over to me, all I have to do is nod and she knows. Clare puts her hand on my arm as she walks past and goes to take a look.

"What's going on?" The homeowner asks.

"Please come into the kitchen Ma'am, is there anyone that might be coming home soon?"

"My children, I pick them up from school in less than an hour."

"It's probably best if you pick them up and take them out. I can call you when everyone is out of the house, but no one will be able to go into that back room for a while."

"What happened in our house?"

"We believe the daughter of the previous owner was killed here," I inform her and she goes white.

"I need to call my husband," she says in a quiet voice as she sits at the kitchen table. I nod and walk a few feet away, while she calls her husband I call the station and let them know what we found. "I'm going to pick up the kids and meet my husband, someone will call us when the house is clear?"

"Yes Ma'am, just leave your number and someone will call you."

She writes down her number and I walk her to the front door. When she's gone I go back to the study where the rest of the team is.

"Homeowner gone?" Clare asks.

"Yeah, to get her kids and meet her husband. I told her someone would call when the house is clear. I called the station too, some uni's should be here soon. How's it going in here?"

"They're getting pictures and they'll take samples. We'll have to ask Imogen's mom for a DNA sample and Dr. Lane for a DNA sample from Mr. Moreno," Clare tells me.

"You two got things here?" I ask Sean and Spin.

"Yeah, we'll meet you back at the station," Sean nods.

"Take the car, we'll ride back with the uniforms," Spin says.

I take the keys and leave with Clare, driving back to the station. We check in with Simpson before attempting to get a hold of Mrs. Granger and Dr. Lane. After leaving messages for both of them we go into Simpsons office.

"We left messages, we'll follow up later," I tell Simpson.

"We should talk to Fiona, tell her what we found," Clare says.

"Call her, see if you can go to her place. She should probably have some support there," Simpson replies.

"I'll call," Clare says as we leave the office. "Fiona says we can come over now. Declan and Jack are both there, going over some things for the wedding."

"Let's go then," I reply.

We grab our badges and guns before leaving the station. The drive to Fiona's seems long, these kind of drives always seem long. I remember being a uniform and having to make death notifications to families. Those are the worst, but this feels only slightly better. The dread of what we're going to tell Fiona looms over us as we drive.

"You found something?" Fiona asks when she opens the door. We had barely gotten out of the car, she must have been watching for us from the window.

"Let's sit down, where's Jack and Declan?" Clare asks.

"In the kitchen, can I get either of you something to drink? Tea? Water?" Fiona offers nervously as she shows us to the kitchen.

"No thank you," we both reply.

"Thanks for coming detectives," Declan says as Fiona sits down.

"What did you find?" Fiona questions.

"We believe that Imogen went to her father's house to get her grandmother's ring. It appears she was killed there. We found a great deal of blood. We don't know positively that the blood is Imogen's. It will need to get tested and we'll have to get DNA from Imogen's parents for comparison," Clare tells them.

"Louis killed her?" Fiona gasps.

"It's possible, it does look that way. We know Mr. Moreno's mental state was declining, and he talked about not wanting her to have the ring. It's possible they fought, or he thought she was an intruder, or that he simply lost it. Right now all we have is a lot of blood in the study, but we wanted you to know," I reply.

"I know it's not solved yet, but thanks for telling me," Fiona says. She sort of seems in shock, her voice is small, distant.

"We'll keep you informed Miss Coyne. We probably won't get a confession from Mr. Moreno, all his things are in storage, we'll have to search the unit," Clare says.

"Thanks detectives, I'll show you out," Declan comments. "I know you still have to get some answers, but it's already a big relief to my sister."

We smile at Declan and get back in the car, driving back to the station. We get a call from Spin that they're back and Mrs. Granger already came in to give a DNA sample.

"I think you should take the rest of the day and be with Jenna and Davey. The rest is interviews and DNA samples, take some time with your family," Clare insists.

"Good idea partner," I grin.

 **(SEAN)**

"Hi Sean," Clare smiles from her desk.

"Any idea what the boss wants us here so early for?" I yawn locking up my service weapon.

A couple hours ago we all got a call from the boss telling us to come in an hour. An hour before our shift even starts, he didn't say why just that we needed to be here.

"No, but he bribed us with good coffee," she says nodding to the little tray sitting on Luke's desk.

"When did you get here?" I question taking the cup marked with my name.

"About ten minutes ago, working on paperwork for the Moreno case. Why does the paperwork always take longer than the case?"

"All part of the glamorous life of a homicide D.C.," I comment and she laughs.

It's Monday, we officially closed Imogen's case last Friday. It was in all the papers, a nearly decade old case, the father killed her in a psychotic episode, it was a huge story. Not that Clare wanted anything to do with the press. Mr. Moreno confessed, well sort of, he talked about an intruder coming for the ring and suddenly seeing Imogen in all the blood. We got DNA from him and Mrs. Granger. Got it fast tracked and matched the blood in Mr. Moreno's old house to Imogen. In all his things at the storage unit we found the murder weapon. A kitchen knife in a butcher block, still with Imogen's blood on it. Open and shut but Mr. Moreno is too far gone to stand trial, he'll probably be sent to facility for the criminally insane. When we told Fiona, Declan and Jack that the case was solved they were all happier and relieved.

"What are we doing here so early?" Spinner gripes walking in with Luke just behind him.

"Not sure, but he got us all good coffee, it's got to be something big," I reply.

"Everyone into my office," Simpson commands peeking out. Everyone takes their coffee and goes into Simpson's office. He's got four chairs set up in front of his desk, so we all sit down. "After the success of the last two cold cases they want to open a unit, a cold case unit. Cold cases only, they asked me to head it, and they want you all to be on it, but it's up to you. All the jobs would be cold, but you wouldn't be limited to just this precinct. The cold case unit would have jurisdiction in all of Toronto. Possibly extending to all of Ontario, the government is working on it. More flexibility in hours too, still no over time of course."

"I'm in, as long as I don't have to talk to the press," Clare says.

"I'll handle the press," Simpson nods.

"Yeah, I'm in. There's something satisfying about solving these old ones," I comment.

"I'm in," Spinner says and we all look at Luke.

"Yeah, me too," Luke nods.

"Good, I'll tell the chief and there will probably be some paperwork to sign later. Some other things to figure out, for now get back to work," Simpson tells us.

"Speaking of paperwork we got a lot of it to do on the Moreno case still," Clare says as we leave Simpson's office.

"You're Detective Constable Edwards," a man states from the entry. We look over, he's slender, toe-headed, blue-eyed, looking right at Clare.

"Yes," Clare nods.

"You solve the old cases," the man states again.

"Yeah, we all do," Clare nods.

"Of course, you must be D.C.'s Cameron, Baker and Mason. I'm Shane McKay, former art history professor at Ryerson. I'm hoping your team can save my life," he says.

"Why don't you take a seat Mr. McKay, and explain," I remark motioning for him to sit at my desk.

"Five years ago I was a respected professor at Ryerson, and then one of my students was found murdered. I went from respected professor to number one suspect overnight, and just like that my life was ruined."

"They must have had a reason for making you a suspect," Luke says.

"She and I were having an affair, for that reason and that reason alone I was the one and only suspect."

"What was the victim's name?" Clare asks.

"Stephanie Kaye, K-A-Y-E. She loved that our names were so close," Mr. McKay smiles reminiscently.

"Why are you coming to us with this case now Mr. McKay?" I inquire. We've solved a couple of cold cases and gained some press, but we just found out about the cold case unit a few minutes ago. This guy couldn't possibly know about the unit already.

"There was a prostitute killed and dumped in Humber River," Mr. McKay says.

"Yeah, it was in the papers, but I still don't see the connect Mr. McKay," Clare remarks.

He looks over at her and grins, "Please call me Shane. The connect is that both Stephanie and the prostitute were whipped and strangled with a car antennae. It's an odd choice of murder weapon don't you think? It could be a major coincidence, but both bodies found in the water, killed with a car antennae, seems like one big coincidence."

"We'll look into the cases and see if there's enough to reopen Stephanie's case. We'll need your name and number, current place of employment."

"Here's all my contact information, and my current place of employment," Shane says getting a business card from his wallet. He writes something on the back and hands the car to Clare.

"Thanks Shane, we'll be in touch," Clare replies.

I walk Shane to the stairs and watch him leave. Simpson is still on the phone, so we go to our computers and start looking up the cases.

"I found Stephanie's case," I tell them.

"I got the prostitute's case, Gabrielle Hoerner," Luke says.

Clare gets up from her desk and comes around Luke's desk to get to my desk. "Guys, look at the crime scene photos."

She's standing a few feet back from both our desks, so we all get up to stand where she is. We all see it at the same time, the victims are in the exact same pose. At the same time Luke and I hit print, and we all walk to the printer to get the pictures. Then we go to the boss's office, knocking on the door.

"I don't have all the paperwork yet," Simpson says.

"We got a new case," Clare says. After explaining about Shane coming in and showing Simpson the crime scene photos he says to re-open the case. "We'll go speak with Shane again, you two find Stephanie's parents and speak with them," Clare says.

"Maybe we should speak with Shane," I comment.

"Why?" Clare questions.

"The way he was looking at you," Spin and I say together.

Clare glowers at us and looks at Simpson, "We're on the street boss." Grabbing Luke by the jacket she drags him out of Simpson's office. They grab their stuff, their guns and leave the floor.

"We'll look up Stephanie's parents, Shane's classes that year too. See what Stephanie's classmates remember," I comment.

"Hit the streets first, talk to the girls that worked with the prostitute. See if they remember anyone hanging around her lately. Then go to the coroner and see what they can tell you about the way she was killed, and if the coroner agrees they were killed the same way."

"On it Boss," Spinner says. "Hey, Luke seem okay to you?" Spinner asks as we walk down to the car.

"Yeah," I shrug, "He seems like Luke."

 **(CLARE)**

"From art history to English as a second language for adults Professor?" I comment entering his classroom as his class ends.

"I'm not a professor anymore, but with your help I'm hoping to be again. Does your being here mean you've reopened the case?"

"We're looking into it again, but you're going to have to be honest with us Shane," I tell him.

"An open book," he smiles.

"Did your wife know about the affair with Stephanie?" Luke inquires.

"Not until I became a suspect. She left me during the investigation, took our son. I haven't heard from them since, she used the investigation to gain full custody. And, if I'm going to be an open book then here," he says getting out a piece of paper from his desk and handing it to me.

"What's this?" I query looking at the lists of women's names.

"Those are the names of my other…"

"Conquests?" Luke offers peeking at the list.

"I was going to say affairs. I'm sure you'll hear some very nasty things about me, but they are all alive I assure you."

"We're looking into the death of Gabrielle Hoerner, where were you the night she was killed?" Luke asks.

"The prostitute that was murdered. She was killed on Thursday night, I was here teaching my class. Adult education ESL every Tuesday and Thursday night."

"Do you remember anyone else Stephanie hung out with? Anyone that hung around her, or she fought with?"

"There was a young man that was around her a lot, had a crush on her I think. He was in one of my classes, I don't recall his name. I can look over my class records, call you with the name."

"Thanks Shane," I nod. We leave his classroom and start walking to the car when my cell rings. It's Sean so I answer and give Luke the keys. "Hi Sean, what's up?"

"We spoke with Stephanie's dad and brother, they're convinced Shane is the killer and the brother stormed out. I think he may be headed for Shane," Sean tells me.

"Thanks Sean, we're still here," I reply and hang up.

"Should we stay here?" Luke asks.

"Call the station and get some uniforms out here. Stephanie's brother might be on his way over to hurt Shane. I'll go in and tell Shane, he can sit in our car until the uni's get here."

Luke nods and gets on the radio, I go back in the building and ask Shane to come with me. I explain what's going on as we walk out to the car.

"Get in the back Shane, we'll have some uniform cops here soon to keep an eye on you," Luke instructs opening the backdoor.

"I'm going to check in with Simpson," I tell Luke and he nods.

"Is Shane safe?" Simpson asks.

"Yes, Luke is getting him in the back o…" I stop when I hear the sound of screeching tires. I turn to see a car racing straight at Luke and Shane. "LUKE," I scream as I drop my phone and pull out my gun.

 **Update soon from about here, and more changes ahead. Next story to updated is** _ **"Just a Bite".**_


	5. Choices We've Made

**Be sure to vote for which story will replace** _ **"Alone on a School Night"**_ **. As usual the polls are on my page of the DeGrassi Saviors site. We're doing things a little differently this time, you can vote for it to be replaced by either a short story or a long story. The single story with the most votes will replace** _ **"Alone on a School Night."**_

 **Currently, the long story** _ **"Can't You See I Can Make You Happy Too?"**_ **is narrowly beating out the short stories;** _ **"You Don't Have to be His Girl"**_ **& **_**"Tell Me I'm the Only One"**_ **which are tied for the most votes of the short stories.**

 **Ch. 5 Choices We've Made**

 **(CLARE)**

I aim my gun at the car, aiming for the tires. Concentrating on my aim I lose sight of Luke, and time seems to slow down. I get one of the tires, but it doesn't help and the car crashes into the side of our car. The worst sound is not the crashing metal, but Luke's scream.

"LUKE?" I call running over.

"Aghh, my leg," he cries. I run around the side of the car and see him pinned under the assailant's car, his leg under the tire. We've gathered a crowd now, people coming over and looking. If they're here I'm going to use them, holding up my gun again I aim it at the man in the car.

"Stay in the car with your hands on the wheel," I command him and look at the crowd. "Someone call 911 and tell them we have an officer down," I instruct. Instantly several people get out their phones and start dialing. I look around and see a few large guys, they all have letterman's jackets. "Hey jocks," I call to them and they walk over. "Keep this guy in the car until backup gets her, I need to check on my partner."

"No problem," one of them says and they all lean on the car.

I run over and grab my phone from where I dropped it, "Boss?"

"Backup is on its way, is Luke okay?"

"Alive, but, his leg is pinned pretty bad, he's in a lot of pain."

"An ambulance is on its way; it should be there in a couple of minutes."

"Hang in there Luke, an ambulance is coming," I assure him.

"Jenna, Davey."

"I'll tell Jenna, bring her to the hospital. I hear sirens approaching, backup is on its way, the ambulance can't be far behind."

I look behind me and see two patrol cars approaching, through the crowd I can only see the flashing lights. When the patrol cars park the crowd parts a little to let Dave and his partner through.

"Backup is here, I'll check in as soon as I can," I tell the boss before hanging up.

"What do you need us to do Clare?" Dave asks.

"Check on Shane, in our car, we were bringing him in. I don't even know if he's hurt. I was focused on keeping the big guy from running. I asked these men to keep him in the car. Someone check to see if he's hurt, and if not take him into custody," I instruct. I hear the ambulance now and the crowd moves out of the way to let them through.

"We need the crowd moved back, and that guy out of the car. We'll need the jack so we can get the car off him," an EMT says after a quick survey of the scene.

"Dave, can you guys handle things? I need to check in with Simpson and tell Luke's wife what happened," I tell him.

"Yeah, we got this Clare," Dave assures me.

I kneel down by Luke, it worries me how pale he is. "Luke, the EMTs are here and they'll take care of you. I'm going to check in with the boss, and then go tell Jenna what happened. I'll bring her to the hospital."

He nods but doesn't say anything, I realize our car has a dent in it and needs to be processed. I walk away from everything, honestly I don't think I can stomach watching them pull Luke out from under the car. I pull my phone out again and call Simpson.

"How's Luke?"

"Conscious, but they're about to get the car off him. The EMTs are working on it and Dave is here, I asked him to oversee things. I told Luke I'd tell Jenna myself and bring her to the hospital, but my car is kind of damaged."

"We're all on our way, you can take my car and I'll ride to the hospital with Luke. I'll be there in two minutes," Simpson tells me.

"Okay," I respond and then cringe when I hear Luke screaming.

I can't watch, I just can't be over there, Luke could have been killed. I also don't want to see how badly his leg is now mangled. I just pace the sidewalk waiting for Simpson to get here. When I hear more sirens I look over, Simpson parks and I walk quickly to his car.

"I couldn't watch, I thought the car had hit him. I think his leg is pretty bad, Luke looked pretty pale."

"They're just getting him on the gurney, I'll ride with him to the hospital, you go get Jenna," Simpson says handing me his keys.

I walk to his car and have to compose myself before I start driving. That's the closest I've ever come to watching someone I work with die. As I drive away I can still see the flashing lights of the emergency vehicles in my rearview mirror. For the entire drive to Luke's house I think about what to tell Jenna. After parking the car outside of their house I sit there and look at the front door for a minute. At least, I can tell her that Luke's alive, and with this thought I get out of the car. I knock on the door, and hear some noises from inside.

"Clare," Jenna smiles with surprise when she sees me. She looks for Luke, and when she doesn't see him her face instantly changed. "Oh God, what happened? Where's Luke?" She questions in panic.

"He's alive, but there's been an accident. He's being taken to the hospital, I'll take you there, but it might be better if Davey stayed with someone."

"Our neighbor, Mrs. Fineman can watch him. Please come in, I'll call her now," Jenna tells me stepping aside. I can tell that she's trying to remain composed and calm, but inside she's panicking. I step inside and Jenna disappears for a second, returning a moment later on her cell phone. She's talking to someone and hangs up after a second. "Mrs. Fineman is on her way over. Does Luke need anything? What do I tell Davey?"

"That you need to go see Luke, and you need him to stay here. He doesn't need to know anything else, not just yet. When you know how badly Luke is hurt, whether or not he'll need to stay in the hospital, then you tell Davey. And, then you'll know what to bring Luke at the hospital as well."

"Yes, you're right, best not to tell him anything just yet. He's just having a snack in the kitchen," Jenna says just as there's a knock on the door. "That's Mrs. Fineman," Jenna tells me going to the door. "Thank you for coming, I don't know how long we'll be," Jenna says to the short, round, elderly woman at the door.

"Don't worry Jenna, I'll take good care of Davey, you just go be with Luke."

"Thank you, this is Luke's partner Clare," Jenna introduces us. I smile at her and we shake hands, before following Jenna into the kitchen where Davey is eating a snack.

"Hi Clare, Nanny Ella," Davey smiles when he sees us. I smile a little when Davey calls their neighbor Nanny Ella, she must watch him a lot.

"Davey, I need to go with Clare to see Daddy. Mrs. Fineman is going to stay with you, and I'll be back as soon as I can," Jenna tells their son.

"I want to see Daddy too."

"I know Honey, but you can't right now," Jenna says. I put my hand on her arm, I can tell she's trying not to cry. Davey looks between us; I think he knows something is wrong. Mrs. Fineman can see it too, she goes in front of us and bends a little to be more on Davey's eye level.

"We're going to have lots of fun Davey. You can watch a movie, I'll make your favorite for dinner, and we can play your favorite game."

"Okay," Davey smiles.

Jenna smiles and kisses Davey's forehead, she grabs her purse and slips on some shoes. We drive to the hospital in silence, I can see how worried Jenna is, so afraid for Luke. I park at the hospital, and we walk in quickly, Jenna's so worried that she's shaking. I take her hand to try and comfort her, the emergency doors open and I Simpson.

"Any word?" Jenna asks. Sean and Spin get up from their seats and come over to us.

"Nothing yet, he's still back with the doctors," Simpson tells us.

"You should sit down Jenna, can we get you anything?" Sean asks.

Jenna shakes her head and sits down. I don't want to sit down, I stand next Spinner and wait for someone to bring us news. We wait in anxious silence of several minutes.

"You're here with D.C. Baker?" Asks a doctor.

"Yes," Jenna says standing up quickly, "that's my husband. How is he?"

"His patella, fibula and tibia were shattered. The tibia crushed above and below the joint. There's some internal bleeding we need to stop and we need to get him stabilized before we can begin surgery. We'll have to replace the knee cap and use steel rods, plates and pins to reconstruct the bones. It's very likely that he'll never have full movement of that leg again, but we won't know until after the surgery. As soon as he's stable we'll get him into surgery, it's going to be a delicate surgery and will take several hours. The head of orthopedic surgery is coming to do the surgery; she'll be here by the time Luke is stable."

"Thank you Doctor," Jenna smiles.

"Once he's stabilized you can come back and see him."

"Is there anyone you want us to call?" Simpson asks Jenna after the doctor walks away.

Jenna sinks back into her chair before answering, "His family; I need to call Luke's family. I need to call home and check on the babysitter. I'll do it, I should be the one to call them, I just need a minute."

After a moment Jenna gets up and says she's going to make some phone calls. Simpson says he'll walk out with her, he needs to check in with the chief.

"Where's Shane? What about the guy that smashed into our car and put Luke in here?" I ask Sean and Spin.

"The victim's brother, Arthur, is the one that hit you, he's in lockup. He's getting processed and will probably stay overnight and go before the judge in the morning. A car took Shane home, there's a patrol car watching his apartment to be safe. I don't think the dad will go after him, and Arthur's in lockup."

"Boss said given the circumstances the judge would probably go easy on Arthur," Sean remarks.

"Arthur and his dad were both convinced that Shane killed Stephanie. They talked about him calling during a family dinner, she left the room. Arthur listened, he heard Shane say they couldn't go public. After Stephanie's death and when the affair came out, they both knew in their hearts that Shane killed her. They've been waiting for justice, and when we told them we were looking at the case again, that it's possible it wasn't Shane, Arthur lost it."

"Did they tell you anything else? Anything helpful? Anyone else in Stephanie's life that may have wanted Stephanie dead?"

"Her father mentioned a boy Stephanie brought to Thanksgiving dinner during her junior year. Alex he said the name was, the dad thought Alex had feelings for his daughter that she didn't reciprocate."

Jenna and Simpson return, so we stop talking, and then we wait. It seems like a very long time, before the doctor comes back, it was only about twenty minutes though. He tells us that Luke is stable now and we can go back and see him. We all walk down the hall, but let Jenna go in the room first. After a few minutes she opens the door, there's tears in her eyes, but she looks relieved having seen her husband.

"You scared the hell out of me, don't do that again partner," I scold him.

"It scared the hell out of me too," Luke replies.

"How you feeling Baker?" Sean asks.

"Like my leg got run over and pinned under a car," Luke says just as the doctor comes in.

"Now that you're stable Luke we need to prep you for surgery. Mrs. Baker we'll need you to sign some papers, and then I suggest you go home. The surgery will take six hours, possibly more. You can come see Luke first thing in the morning. I'll have someone notify you when the surgery is done, and if anything goes wrong," the doctor tells Jenna.

"No, I'm staying right here a…" Jenna begins when Luke cuts her off.

"Jenna go home, be with Davey, you can both come see me in the morning."

"I assure you Mrs. Baker, you will be notified if anything happens. I'll be sure they call you as soon as Luke is out of surgery as well."

"I love you," Jenna say to Luke before giving him a tender kiss. The rest of us say goodbye to Luke and leave the room.

"I'll take you home Jenna," Simpson tells her and then looks at us, "the rest of you go home too. It's been a long day; I'll see you all tomorrow."

"We'll take you home Clare," Sean says.

We leave the hospital together; I hug Jenna before we get in separate cars. Sean and Spin drop me at home, and I'm happily greeted by Thorn and Wells. I pet my dogs, put out some food for them and grab a bottle of wine. I turn on the TV, sip the wine, and when my dogs come to snuggle with me on the sofa I happily cuddle them. I slowly drink the wine and I don't sleep all night. Just after dawn I shower and get ready for work. Before I go into the station I go to the hospital. It's a little before visiting hours, but the nurse tells me where Luke's room is. When I get to the room Jenna is here, she smiles when she sees me.

"I should go get Davey and bring him down, I'll be back in little while," Jenna says. She gives Luke a soft kiss before leaving the room.

"How do you feel?"

"Pretty out of it."

"Did they say how long you would be in here?"

"A couple more days in the hospital two months at least in the cast, months of physical therapy after that. I'm not coming back Clare, with this leg I can't. I'm on medical leave for the next three months, that might be extended. When I do come back it will be desk duty."

"With my luck I'll get stuck with an old sexist pig that doesn't believe I belong in homicide."

"Simpson won't let that happen, even if he does I know you're strong enough to break in a new partner. You'll be fine Clare, Sean and Spin have your back, and Simpson's always looking out for you."

"Just don't be a stranger Luke, you might not be my partner anymore, but you'll always be my friend."

"I promise," Luke grins.

"Does the boss know yet?"

"He's coming by this morning. I think he knows already, but I'll make it official."

 **(SEAN)**

"Morning Clare," I greet as I lock up my gun. She's sitting at her desk and looks like she's been here a couple of hours.

"Morning," she replies without looking at me. She sounds sad or maybe distracted, but after yesterday I understand.

"Where's the boss?" I question seeing that his office is empty.

"With the chief, Luke's not coming back."

"What do you mean Luke's not coming back?" Spin asks closing his gun locker.

"He can't be a D.C. with that leg, he's on medical leave now, and after that desk duty."

"I like Luke, but it's probably better with a baby on the way that he's on desk duty."

"Yeah, but he was a good partner, I'm going to miss him," Clare sighs.

Spin and I go into the breakroom for coffee and donuts. Just as we're coming out Simpson comes in and calls the three of us into his office.

"You three know that Luke's on medical leave and then desk duty? It'll take months for his leg to even heal. I'm looking at transfers for Clare's new partner, until then you three work together. I've been up with the chief and I have a few candidates to look at, hopefully we'll have someone in here in a couple of days."

"Sure Boss," I nod.

Clare and Spin say the same and we leave Simpson's office to sit at our desks. I do a DMV search for Alex Yankou, three come up in the greater Toronto area, but it's easy to find the one that attended Ryerson.

"Hey, I found Alex Yankou's address, you want to go have a chat with him?" I ask Spin and Clare.

"Yeah, I need to get out of the office," Clare nods.

"I'll tell the boss," Spin says getting up from his desk.

Spin peeks into the boss's office, Clare grabs her badge and gun, and we go down to sign out a car. Spin sits in the back and I drive, Alex lives in an apartment in Amesbury. There's no security at the building, we walk in and knock on Alex's door.

"Leave it at the door," he calls from inside.

"Police, open up we need to speak with you," I call knocking on the door again.

"Show me your badges," he says cracking the door open. We all take our badges from our pockets and flash them, and Alex opens the door. "What's this about?" He asks shutting and locking the door as soon as we're inside.

"A murder, a girl you knew named Stephanie Kaye."

"Yes, I knew Stephanie, she was nice to me. Professor McKay killed her, everyone knows it."

"You ever use the services of prostitutes?" Spinner asks him.

"No, that's dirty. I wouldn't even know where to find one," Alex replies.

"How well did you know Stephanie?"

"Not all that well, she was nice to me," Alex responds.

"Her father said you joined them for Thanksgiving dinner once. He said he thought you were hoping for a relationship with Stephanie," Spin comments.

"I admired her, she was very pretty. She invited me to Thanksgiving with her family because I was alone that Thanksgiving. I thought it meant more, but it didn't, I tried to make a move and she told me there was someone else. Shortly after that I saw her with Professor McKay."

"That make you mad Alex? Mad enough to kill her?" I question.

"I wasn't happy, but I could never have killed Stephanie. It was Professor McKay; we all knew it was professor McKay."

"If there was evidence he would have been convicted. Having an affair with a student does not prove that he killed her, only that he's an adulterer. Where were you the night Stephanie was killed?" Clare asks.

"My dorm room, I had a big final that Monday and I had to study. I know people saw me in my room."

"We'll need the names of others in your dorm and we'll check on your alibi," Clare tells him. Alex writes down some names and we leave his apartment. "Why don't you two go to the street where Gabrielle worked, talk to the prostitutes and show Alex and Shane's pictures. You can drop me at the station and I'll track down these names Alex gave us."

"Sounds good," I nod. I drive back to the station and Clare gets out of the car. Spin and I go down to the street Gabrielle worked the most. It was easy to find, because it was the street she was arrested on the most in her arrest record. The girls see us coming and start to walk away.

"Relax girls we're homicide, we just have a few questions. Any of you know Gabrielle Hoerner?" Spinner asks.

"Yeah, we knew Gabby, this was her favorite street. She was nice, young, we worried about her."

"You ever see this man out here?" I inquire showing them a picture of Shane.

"No, never seen him before," one of the women says. The others shake their heads.

"What about this guy?" I ask bringing up a picture of Alex.

"Yeah, that guys been out here a lot lately."

"You ever see him with Gabrielle?"

"No, he never gets out of his car, too nervous to talk to us. He just sits there and watches."

"Was he out here the night Gabrielle died?" Spinner asks.

"He was watching that day, but he was gone before it was dark. None of us saw Gabby that night, but she had a couple of regular John's. One of them gave her a diamond stud, she had it turned into a belly ring."

"Did she wear the belly ring often?" I question.

"All the time," one of the women nods.

"Thanks ladies," Spin says and we return to our car.

"You remember a belly ring in the crime scene photo?" I question as we get back in the car.

"No, we can look again when we get back to the office, and call the coroner, see if one was found with her things."

"Yeah, and get a warrant for Alex's place. He lied to us about being the prostitutes, he's been out there."

We drive back to the office, Clare is still on the phone, so we look at the crime scene photo and there's no diamond stud anywhere. We call the coroner where her body was taken and she says there was no diamond stud brought to her.

"Alex's alibi checks out for the night of Stephanie's death. The dorm supervisor remembers Alex in his room by seven and says he didn't leave his room all night," Clare tells us hanging up the phone.

"Yeah, maybe he went out a window. The prostitutes said Alex hangs out there all the time, watching from his car. They also told us Gabrielle had a diamond stud belly ring, but it wasn't at the crime scene. We're going to ask the boss about getting a warrant for Alex's apartment, maybe get some unis checking pawnshops for the diamond stud," Spin tells her.

The three of us go in and check in with the boss, he says he'll call a judge for a warrant. He gives us permission to send some uniforms around to pawn shops. So, we go downstairs and tell the sergeant, he'll send some unis out. We return to our desks to start on paperwork until we hear about the warrant. It could be a day or two before the diamond stud is found, and that is assuming it got pawned.

"I'm hungry, let's grab some lunch," Clare speaks up after a while.

"Good idea, I'm starving Spinner nods.

"Hey Boss, we're going to grab lunch at the diner. You want anything?"

"Yeah, my usual, thanks Sean."

The three of us take our weapons and badges and walk down the street to the diner. We eat and talk mostly about Luke, I get Simpson's order to go just before we leave. I take it into him as son as we're back in the station.

"Thanks, I'm starved. The judge approved a limited warrant to get a look at Alex Yankou's apartment. You three can serve it now if you'd like," Simpson tells me handing me the warrant.

"Hey, we got the warrant," I tell Spin and Clare closing Simpson's door.

"Let's go back and see Alex then," Spin says.

Once again we grab our guns and go down to the garage. I drive us back to Alex's apartment and knock on the door. Alex opens the door a crack and frowns when he sees us.

"I told you everything I know," he says and begins closing the door but I stop him.

"We have a warrant Alex, open up."

"A warrant? What for? I didn't kill Stephanie."

"Open the door or we'll break it down," Spin demands holding up the warrant.

Alex releases a heavy breath, but he opens the door. "I didn't kill Stephanie, I told you Professor McKay killed her."

"You lied to us Alex, you told us you didn't even know where to get a prostitute. We talked to a few that said you sit out there and watch them. Now sit down while we take a look around the apartment," Spin says and Alex sits down. I stay in the kitchen to keep an eye on Alex while the other two look around.

"Guys, look at this," Clare says bringing out a shoe box. She opens the lid and it's filled with pictures of Stephanie, and some letters.

"Alright Alex, you need to come down to the station with us," I tell him pulling him up from the chair.

"I didn't kill Stephanie, those are from a photography class," Alex protests.

"Yeah, tell us down at the station."

We get Alex down to the car and I sit in back with him while Clare drives us back to the station. Clare and Spin lock up their guns and take Alex while I lock up mine. Spin goes to check in with the boss while we pull Alex into an interview room.

"Why'd you lie to us Alex?"

"I didn't lie; I've never picked up a prostitute."

"You said you didn't even know where to find one, they identified you Alex. They said you are down there watching them all the time. Including the day Gabrielle disappeared," I inform him.

"Who's Gabrielle?"

"A prostitute, she was killed a couple days ago. She was one of the prostitutes that you sat in your car and watched. She was found in the river in exactly the same pose as Stephanie."

"I didn't kill Stephanie, I didn't kill anyone," Alex replies.

"Get the crime scene photos," I whisper to Clare. She nods and leaves the room. "What were you doing sitting in your car watching the prostitutes?"

"Observation, I'm writing about them, not them specifically, I was just observing them. I swear to you that's all, observing for human behavior. I don't even know their names," Alex replies just as Clare comes back in the room.

"Explain this, two women you were associated with, both ended up dead in the water. Exact same pose, exact same murder weapon," Clare comments putting out the pictures of Stephanie and Gabrielle.

"This is how they were posed?" Alex asks looking at the pictures and we nod. "There's something you should read."

 **Update soon, picking up from about here. We'll also meet Clare's new partner? Who could it be? Next story to be updated is _"Why Do I Want Him Still?"_**


	6. When You're Brought into this World

**Thanks to everyone that voted in the poll for which story should replace** _ **"Alone on a School Night".**_ **The poll is now down and the winner is** _ **"Tell Me I'm the Only One"**_ **.**

 **Ch. 6** **When You're Brought into this World**

 **(CLARE)**

"It can't be a coincidence boss, the bodies are laid out exactly like it says in the poem," I tell Simpson. After Alex showed us the poem we let him go, we didn't really have enough to hold him with. Of course, we warned him not to leave town, and had a unit take him home.

"What's the poem?" Simpson asks after reading it.

"A 17th century French poet, and obscure one. Alex says he found it last year when he was doing research for something he was writing. We have no way of proving that of course," I reply.

"What about Shane? Does he have a connection to the poem?" Simpson questions.

"We don't know; I think we need a look at his apartment. We did a little more digging on Shane though, he was a professor of art history at Ryerson. Prior to that though he was a literary professor at Brandon University in Manitoba. He was let go, but we can't find out why, Spinner is working on it. We did find that as a student at the University of Manitoba Shane did a thesis on little known poets of Europe. Spinner is trying to find a copy of the thesis as well," Sean enlightens him.

"Alright, keep Spinner on that. We've still got unis out searching for the diamond taken off the prostitute?" Simpson asks and Sean nods. "Why don't you two go see Shane at his apartment, he's still there with a unit outside. Drop by with a few questions, maybe about Alex so that he lets his guard down, but we don't have a warrant, so if it's not left in sight and something we can connect to him then we'll need more evidence."

"Right Boss," Sean nods.

We go out and tell Spin what Simpson said, Sean and I grab our badges and guns as we leave. Sean checks out a car, and I radio ahead to the unit watching Shane's apartment that we're coming. We park near the marked car and go up to Shane's apartment.

"Professor McKay it's D.C.'s Cameron and Edwards, open up," Sean announces banging on the door.

Shane comes over and looks through the peephole, then opens the door to let us in. "Does this mean you have news?"

"Maybe, we're looking at another suspect," I tell Shane.

"Oh?" Shane questions, "Uh please have a seat, can I get either of you anything?"

"No, thanks we're fine," Sean replies and I nod as we both sit down. The first thing I notice when coming into his apartment was all the books, it's about the only thing he has in his apartment. "Do you remember another student by the name of Alex Yankou?"

Shane looks down, searching his mind for the name and then shakes his head a little, "No, doesn't ring a bell."

"He was a student at the same time as Stephanie, he had feelings for her she didn't reciprocate."

"You know I do remember a boy that followed her around like a puppy dog. Kind of portly, glasses, I never knew his name though."

"That's him, well we just wanted to update you, see if you remembered Alex Yankou. You mind if I use your washroom before we go?" Sean asks.

"Of course, end of the hall," Shane says. Sean nods and gets up, I know he's doing this so that I have some time to look around.

"You have a vast book collection, I love books. Reading and writing were my favorite things growing up, there was a time I wanted to be a journalist," I comment looking around at all the books.

"Please, look around, my book collection is my prize possession. So, why didn't you go into journalism?" Shane asks as I stand up to start looking at the books. He gave me permission, so I can actually poke through them a bit.

"Oh, you know life made things change," I comment running my fingers over the spine of an old book by a medieval author, it's really an impressive collection. "Do you have a favorite?" I question. "There's such a wide variety of genres and authors here, better than many bookstores have."

"I told you it's my prize possession. I've spent years collecting, trading, purchasing, a lot easier to do at my former salary. I don't even have a proper place to store the books any longer, but hopefully, that will all be rectified soon. This…Alex was it? Is he a prime suspect?"

"I'm afraid I can't discuss that with you Shane, not while the case is open. My favorites have always been the Italian and French authors. There's a certain romanticism to all of their writing. I just loved escaping into the worlds of the likes of Alexander Dumas, Grazia Deledda, Carlo Cassola. Of course, my true favorites have always been the poets, I always loved discovering new poems. Dreaming one day of a man writing poems about me," I tell him inflecting my voice with some dreamy romantic tones. I'm doing this very strategically, having him picture me as that dreamy school girl so that he'll let his guard down.

"Well, you should see these then," he says holding his hand out to me. I take his hand, and allow him to escort me back to his bedroom. Sean is coming out of the washroom, he gives me a look and lingers behind, but says nothing. In Shane's bedroom are two small bookshelves overflowing with books, he leads me to one, waving his hand over a number of books. "My poetry books, a couple of them are even first editions," he smiles proudly.

I pick out the book I'm looking for immediately. I don't touch it, don't even glance at it, I don't want him to know, but I see it there. I send a thumbs up to Sean though, behind my back, so he knows I found something.

"Clare, we should get back to the station," Sean announces and Shane looks back at him. While Shane is looking away I snap a quick picture on my phone.

"These are amazing, I wish could sit and look at them all, but Sean is right we should be getting back," I comment.

"Perhaps when this whole mess is over you can come back, I'd happily let you stay and look at my entire collection," Shane grins.

"I'd love that," I smile. I truly would, but I know it will never happen.

"I heard your other partner, uh Barker was it?" Shane questions as we start walking for his front door.

"Baker," Sean corrects.

"Yes, right, anyway I heard he's going to be alright after some time with cast on. I was very glad to hear that," Shane comments. Despite his words I don't think he cares one way or the other.

"Yes, he will, thankfully."

"I won't be pressing charges against Stephanie's brother, I understand what he's been going through all these years. Not knowing who killed her or what happened, I didn't want to make it worse," Shane says. He's trying to sound humble and forgiving, he just sounds disingenuous.

"That's very big of you," Sean comments.

"I'll be seeing you again Clare," Shane grins as he opens his front door for us.

"I'm sure," I reply. Sean puts his hand at my back and we walk quickly away from Shane's apartment.

"I feel like I need a shower now," I remark as we get back in the car.

"No kidding, he gets more and more pervy every time I see him. He couldn't even remember Baker's name, and yet he remembered your first name. I was worried when he took you into the bedroom, leading you by the hand even. I hope it was worth going, even I feel like I need a shower now."

"The book with the poem in it was in his collection. Not only that, but it was on top, slightly askew and appears to have been recently looked at. I got a picture with my phone."

"Good, let's go report it all to the boss, and then let's go home and shower!"

 **(SPINNER)**

"Who's this guy?" I question as two uniforms drag in a guy speaking broken English with a heavy accent.

"He's the one that pawned the prostitute's diamond," one of the officers tells me.

"Box one, Sean come on," I call to him.

Yesterday, Sean and Clare had gone to Shane's apartment after their conversation with Alex Yankou. They both told me what a perv Shane was being, but Clare did get a picture of the book with the poem in it. Simpson said it wasn't enough for a warrant, but definitely enough for another conversation. Now that we have the guy that pawned Gabrielle's diamond we'll see whether he leads us to Shane or to Alex.

"I'll tell the boss, and go into observation," Clare says getting up from her desk.

"What's his name?" I question while the officers sit the guy down.

"Mamoud Kamal," they tell me hooking his handcuffs to the table.

"Why don't you tell us about the diamond and the prostitute," Sean says to him as we close the door.

"I don't know what you…what you are talking about," he says correcting himself halfway through the sentence.

"Funny, because we have record of you pawning a diamond that came off a dead hooker," I inform him.

He looks at his hands and remains silent.

"Look, we want to help you, but we can't do that if you don't tell us everything. How'd you get the diamond?" I question.

"Found. Needed money," he replies with his thick accent and not using full sentences.

"Found the diamond or the dead hooker?" Sean asks.

"Diamond, on the ground. Needed money, didn't think anyone would miss," he shrugs.

"You expect us to believe you found a diamond on the ground? You know it was a belly ring, it wouldn't have just popped off."

"Maybe killer dropped it," he responds.

"We never said anything about a killer, we only said she was dead," Sean points out.

"You bring me down here for a pawned diamond, don't think so. She was killed, I found diamond," he insists and then he says a bunch of stuff in his native language.

"We're going to take your fingerprints, and DNA, you can cooperate or we can get a warrant. We find one single hair of yours on the hooker and we'll be prosecuting for not one, but two murders. You want to talk to us now," I try to reason with him. Of course, if he didn't leave any physical evidence on Gabrielle we really have no case. He can easily stick with his story of finding the diamond and pawning it for money.

He's not even looking at us now, just continually repeating something in his native language. I look at Sean, I'm not sure where to go, and then Clare comes in with a paper in her hand. She doesn't say a word, just hands me the paper and leaves the room. It's a list of registered students for Mr. McKay's class, and she highlighted Mr. Kamal's name.

"You take English as a second language with Mr. McKay," I remark setting the paper in front of him.

"To learn to speak better," he replies.

"Talk or not, we got you. Mr. McKay killed a girl a few years ago, then he pays you to kill the prostitute and pose her in the same way. When did he show you the poem?"

Mamoud stays silent.

"We have enough to take you in front of the prosecutor. We know you didn't come up with this plan on your own. You want to save yourself, talk now and we can maybe deal. There's no way you would have known how to pose Gabrielle on your own. You had to have seen the poem, I bet you never even heard of the poem until Mr. McKay showed you. Come on Mamoud, help yourself and start talking," I insist.

He looks at his hands, sighs and slumps back into his chair a little, "He was helping me after class, talked about his other life. Said he could get it back with my help. I need money for my family back home, to bring them here. Mr. McKay said he'd pay me a thousand dollars. He only gave me two hundred, when I saw the diamond on the girl I took it, wanted my money."

"What about the body? How'd you know how to pose Gabrielle's body? And, what murder weapon to use?"

"He told me how to kill her, to break off a car antennae and whip her with it, then strangle her. He read me the poem, made me a copy, so I'd remember how to pose the body. I still have the copy at my apartment."

"Okay, we'll need a written statement in your own words, starting with Mr. McKay telling you how he wanted to get his life back. You can end with you pawning the diamond, unless you have more to add," I tell him.

Sean stays in with him and I go out to get the papers we use for statements, they have lines to write and a place to initial at the bottom. Clare is leaving observation at the same time, she goes into Simpson's office to tell him. I take the papers into Sean, so he can explain it and stay in there with Mamoud while he writes his statement. I sit down at my computer to start on the paperwork.

"Boss is getting a warrant for Shane, with Mr. Kamal's statement we have enough to arrest him. He suggested one of you go tell Stephanie's family the latest news, while the other one comes with me to arrest Shane," Clare tells me.

"After what Sean told me yesterday about how much of a perv Shane was being, I think you should go tell Stephanie's family," I respond.

"I never met them, I only saw Arthur when he was aiming his car at Luke, and then I was pointing a gun at Arthur's head. You have a rapport with them, I don't. I won't be arresting Shane alone, and if he tries anything then I have my gun."

"Fine, I'll go with you then, Sean can tell Stephanie's family. We might get the warrant by the time I'm done with the paperwork."

"Luke is getting out of the hospital today, I was going to drop by after work, but if we're here too late I won't."

"We shouldn't be here too late, and we may not get the warrant until the morning," I point out just as I see a guy coming in. He's around Clare's age, dark hair and olive skin, wearing a suit.

"Where can I find Detective Staff Sergeant Simpson?" He asks.

"His office is right there," I point to the guy.

"Thanks," he smiles and goes in.

"Who's the kid?" Sean asks coming out of Box 1. He's got Mamoud's statement in his hand, and gets on the phone to call downstairs. He asks for two officers to be sent up and Mamoud to be processed.

"He's not a kid, he's got to be as old as I am," Clare retorts.

"Kid," Sean and I say together.

"With that charming smile and unassuming looks he was probably undercover," I comment.

"Yeah, so what's he doing here?" Sean questions.

 **(DREW)**

"You come highly recommended Drew, I worked on the streets with your sarge and he spoke very highly of you. I know you were working drugs and gangs, with a lot of undercover time, there's a lot of adrenaline in that, a lot of action. This unit is totally dedicated to cold cases, not a lot of action, are you ready for the change?" Sergeant Simpson asks me.

"From what I heard the guy I'm replacing was hit by a car, sounds like action to me."

"An angry family member of the victim was trying to get retribution on the suspect, my officer was in the way. You're not going to be seeing a lot of that here, you're not even going to be working fresh cases."

"I know, I'm ready for it. Can't do undercover anymore, almost every gang in the city knows my face."

"We work as a team here, but your partner will be Clare," he says nodding out his window to the female detective.

"That'll be a bit of a change, I was on a team undercover, but mostly on my own. I'm good with people though, and it will be fun to have a female partner," I grin looking her over.

"Don't get any ideas Torres, Clare is tough and she can be a handful. Sean Cameron and Spinner Mason are the other detectives on your team. Good cops, all of them. Sean and Spin have a lot of experience," Sergeant Simpson says and then his phone rings. "Simpson," he says into the phone, "great, I'll send them out right now." He hangs up the phone and looks back at me. "If you think you're really ready for this then you might as well jump in now. You seem to be the best of the candidates I've looked at, so let's see how you do," he comments getting up from his desk. He opens his office door part way and pokes his head out, "My office."

"What's up Snake?" Clare questions.

" _Snake?"_ I ask silently. I'll ask Clare about it later.

"Everyone, meet Drew Torres, new member of the team, Clare's new partner," Sergeant Simpson says sitting down again.

"Good to meet you, Sean Cameron."

"Gavin Mason, but everyone calls me Spinner."

"Clare Edwards," she smiles at me. I shake all of their hands and smile or say nice to meet you.

"Warrant was approved; Clare why don't you take your new partner to serve the warrant. Sean, Spin go tell Stephanie's family about the turn in the case," Sergeant Simpson orders.

"On it Boss," Sean says and we leave his office.

"Better let Drew get the handcuffs on Shane Clare, he might get turned on if you do it," D.C. Mason teases her as we leave Simpson's office.

She just shakes her head, grabbing her badge and credentials from her desk. I'm still wearing mine, and since I don't have a locker here I left my gun with the desk sergeant. They get their guns from the lockers and I retrieve mine while Clare checks us out a car.

"So, catch me up with the case, I wasn't exactly expecting to jump right in today," I remark as Clare starts driving.

She tells me about Shane McKay and his affair with Stephanie, and how it looked like Alex Yankou was the killer for a while. Now with this guy that pawned the diamond, they have enough to arrest Shane.

"So, you think it was coincidence that one of the prostitutes that Alex watched was killed?"

"No, too big of a coincidence. We can check Mr. Kamal's statement when we get back, or ask Sean about it. He was in with Mr. Kamal while he wrote the statement."

"You guys always call each other by first name? In my last unit everyone went by last name."

"Every now and then Simpson calls us by last name, sometimes we do it, mostly its first name though. Small, tight unit, I started calling everyone by first name, and the others just followed suit. Well, we call Gavin Spinner or Spin."

"What about Sergeant Simpson?"

"Don't call him that. Boss, Sir, Sarge is okay, or Simpson."

"Snake?"

"A nickname he won't tell us how he got, it works too, but I'd wait until you've been in the unit with us for a while before you call him that. This is it," Clare says parking outside of an apartment building. We get out of the car, but instead of going in the building she goes to the patrol car that's here for Shane's protection.

"Hi Edwards, Simpson called and said you were coming to arrest him. You want backup? Who's the new guy?" One of the officers asks, his name badge says Turner.

"Couldn't hurt, I don't expect Shane to cause trouble, on the other hand he is pretty desperate. This is Drew Torres, he's taking over for Luke, making him my new partner. Drew this is Dave Turner and his partner William Rush," Clare introduces us. I say hello with a nod and they get out of the patrol car, the four of us going into the apartment building. "The three of you stay back, I'll knock on the door and pretend I'm here alone, he'll let me in. Just be ready to come in if I need you."

"We'll be ready," I tell her.

I position myself on one side of the door with Dave, William goes to the other, we make sure we're out of sight. If he steps out we're visible though, or even if he just looks out, but there's nowhere to hide in the hallway. Clare knocks on the door and there's a few sounds from inside. He must look through the peephole, and then the door opens.

"Clare, how wonderful to see you," he says. I can't see him, but his voice oozes with lust. I now understand Spinner's earlier comment about letting me cuff this guy.

"I just couldn't stop thinking about your book collection. I was hoping I could get a better look, my partner pulled me away so quickly yesterday," she says. I hear a smile on her lips, but she's not flirting.

"Of course, please come in, I have so many wonderful things to show you," he says. The lecherous tone in his voice makes even my skin crawl, I can only imagine what he envisions is going to happen with her. Clare starts to go in, but I see her hand waving for us to follow. I wait until she's through the door and Shane is starting to close it, then I step up and prevent the door from closing. "Who are you?" He asks looking at the officers behind me.

"My new partner, Shane McKay you're under arrest for the murder of Stephanie Kaye and conspiracy to commit murder," Clare says slapping the handcuffs on him. I don't think she needed our help at all, she just needed him to be distracted.

"I thought you had another suspect, I tell you I didn't kill Stephanie," he says.

"You can tell us all about it at the station," I remark grabbing him away from Clare.

On the elevator ride down to the car I inform Shane of his rights. The patrol car takes him, so that they can process him before he comes upstairs. Clare drives back to the station since she knows the way.

"This was Luke's locker, you can take it, set your own combo," Clare says opening a gun locker for me.

"Uh thanks, how do I reset the combo?" I question taking out m gun and setting it in.

"Press the center button as you're putting in the combo, don't worry there's a key for each locker too," she replies.

"How'd it go with Shane?" Sean asks Clare.

"I pretended to be there to see his books, and he let me in," she grins and they both look worried.

"We were at the door, she waved us in and used the distraction to get the handcuffs on him, he was no trouble," I comment. I set the locker combo to my girlfriend's birthday and then lean on the empty desk. It'll be mine, but Luke's stuff is all over it still.

"So, where's Shane now?" Spinner asks as Clare comes over with an empty box.

"Downstairs getting processed, we can talk to him in the morning. I'm going to pack up Luke's stuff and take it over. He got out of the hospital today," Clare tells them. She sets the box on Luke's desk and begins putting in all of his personal stuff.

"We're coming with you, Snake wants to come too," Spinner says.

"You want to come Drew? I'm sure Luke would like to meet his replacement," Clare offers.

"Uh, sure sounds good," I nod. It's probably good to meet the guy I'm replacing, get his advice, and assure him his partner and team are in good hands. We start helping Clare pack the box for Luke, Simpson is on the phone in his office, so no one has told him we're going to see Luke yet. "Hey," I speak up after a few minutes, "Clare was telling me about the case in the car, and I was wondering how Mamoud knew to kill the prostitute Alex was watching, or one of them anyway?"

"It's in his statement, Shane did remember Alex, he knew Alex was obsessed with Stephanie and would make a good scapegoat. He found Alex's address and they watched him for a few days. When they saw him watching the Gabrielle and the others they knew they had their victim. Shane told Mamoud to kill one of the prostitutes, dump the body in the river and pose it like in the poem. You know if Shane had just paid Mamoud the money he promised we may never have been able to link Mamoud, and may not have had enough to prosecute Shane," Sean tells us.

"How'd the arrest go?" Simpson asks coming out of his office.

"Good, he's getting processed now. We were all going to head to Luke's," Clare tells him.

"Good let's go, and then you should all go home, it's been a long couple of days," Simpson says grabbing his coat.

We all take our own cars since we're all going home after this, and I follow Clare since I have no idea where I'm going. I park on the street behind Clare and follow everyone to the front door of the house. Clare rings the bell, a moment later a blonde woman answers, she must be Luke's wife.

"He'll be happy to see all of you, he's in the bedroom, Clare can show you the way. I'm just getting Davey his dinner."

"Thanks Jenna, this is my new partner Drew Torres," Clare introduces me as we walk in.

"Nice to meet you," I smile as I come in.

"You as well," she grins.

"So, how do you know where the bedroom is?" Spinner questions in a teasing voice.

"Because I've been here for dinner several times," Clare replies elbowing Spinner in the stomach lightly. She leads us down a hall, I can hear the hockey game on in his room, but when Clare pushes open the door he turns off the TV.

"Hey everyone," Luke smiles.

"Hey gimpy how's the leg?" Spinner asks.

"Can't move which sucks, but I'm on too many pain meds to feel anything. You must be Clare's new partner," Luke says looking at me.

"Uh, yeah, Drew Torres, it's good to meet you," I smile shaking his hand.

"You too, watch out for Clare she can be incredibly stubborn, and stoic. She's a great partner though, really smart. Sean and Spin will always have your back, they're pretty much ready for anything, anytime. Snake's probably the best boss you'll ever have. I hope you know how lucky you were getting this assignment. Especially with the cold case unit giving us jurisdiction all over the city."

"Yeah, I'm getting the idea," I nod.

"We brought all your stuff from your desk, I'll go get the box from my car," Spinner remarks.

He runs out to his car and returns with the box, we stay for about twenty minutes all together. Luke's on a lot of pain meds and he's tired, so we don't want to stay too long. I wave to everyone, get in my car and call my brother.

"How'd the interview go?" Adam asks.

"Got the job, want to meet for a dinner and some drinks?"

"Sure, Tooth and Ale?"

"Yeah, I should be there in about ten," I reply and hang up. I park at the bar and see Adam's car already here. I find him at a back table, and sit down.

"Hey, ordered us a pitcher and a couple burgers," Adam tells me. He works just down the street and we come here a lot.

"Thanks Bro," I grin.

"So, when do you start the new job?"

"Already started, it was kind of test, he told me about the unit and everything. Asked me a few questions, went over my undercover work, my arrests. While I was there he got a phone call, they got a warrant to arrest a guy. He told me I should go with them; see how I do in the field. He called everyone in and introduced to them, we work as one unit, but my partner is a girl."

"Yeah? I can't think there's all that many girls that work homicide," Adam comments just as our pitcher and two glasses are brought out.

"Yeah, there's only like 2 or 3 percent female cops at all. She's young too, about our age probably. Small, but a firecracker, smart, feisty…"

"Don't get the hots for your partner," Adam interrupts me.

"I don't have the hots for her, I was only with her for a couple hours today. Our boss warned me that she was stubborn, and a handful. Met the guy I'm replacing too, he made similar comments. About the whole team, he seems like a good guy."

"You know you'll be compared to him for the first few weeks probably," Adam remarks.

"Yeah, I know. That's okay I'll prove myself in time. Our boss seems like a good guy, kind of a father figure to the rest of the team, at least by the way he talks. I don't even have to call him by his title, they call him by last name, or Boss, or Snake," I say as the waitress brings our food.

"Snake?"

"Yeah, Clare said it was a nickname, but he won't tell anyone how he got it. Probably, because it's dirty," I remark and Adam throws a pickle slice at me.

We stay at the bar for over an hour talking and eating, drinking a pitcher slowly. We make sure to have lots of water too. After I leave Adam I drive to my old station to get my stuff, and before I go home and call my girlfriend I have one more stop to make. Another bar, but I won't be drinking.

"Hey Torres, it's been forever you must have just gotten done with another undercover," my best friend greets me from behind the bar.

"I did, but I also got a new job. Right down the street, so you'll be seeing a lot more of me Owen."

 **Update soon, picking up from here or the next day possibly and a new case of course. Next story to go up is the premier of "** _ **Tell Me I'm the Only One**_ **".**


	7. Look Again

**I've added two long stories to the list on my profile page. A Clew story and a Flew**

 **crackship story! Be sure to check those out.**

 **Ch. 7 Look Again**

 **(DREW)**

"You should all come take a look at this," Simpson calls from his doorway. We were all in the middle of doing paperwork for the McKay case, and all of us happy to have an excuse to leave the paperwork get up and go into his office. "This came in the mail yesterday addressed to: The Cold Case Unit. No return address on the envelope and nothing else in it," Simpson tells us handing Clare a newspaper clipping.

The clipping is a picture of a pretty woman in her mid-thirties with short dark hair. It's only a black and white photo there's no article with it. Written across the photo in red ink, and block letters are the words: **LOOK AGAIN**. The only thing under the photo is a name.

"Ashley Brooks," Clare says reading the name, "this photo isn't much to go on."

"I agree, but someone thinks there's something to look at. See what you can find out about the case. We'll need more than a photo to get the case reopened," Simpson comments. We all nod and leave his office.

"We'll look up the Brooks case you two finish the paperwork for the McKay case," Spinner remarks snatching the picture from Clare's hands.

"I think," I remark snatching the picture back from Spinner, "as the new guy my partner should show me what we're looking for. I mean I've never had to reopen a case before, how will I know what's enough to re-open a case? I already know how to fill out the paperwork when closing a case, don't need to learn that, so you two can do it."

"Drew has a good point," Clare laughs. Spinner and Sean twist their faces at me, but don't argue, and Clare follows me to my desk. "Like any investigation see if there's a case file first," Clare says.

I type Ashley's name in the computer, without any other details I get three Ashley Brooks in the greater Toronto area with police files. However, one was arrested for prostitution three months ago in Cabbagetown, based on the newspaper photo I don't think it's her. I still look at the picture, but it's definitely not her. Another was 82 years old two years ago when she made a police report about being robbed, not her. The last one was arrested 32 years ago for possession and intent to sell, she was 19 at the time. No record since, and it's not the right Ashley Brooks anyway.

"What now?" I ask Clare.

"Try searching online for an obituary, someone sent us the newspaper clipping of the picture wanting us to look again. Presumably, Ashley is dead or we wouldn't have been sent the picture."

"Right," I nod. I search for obituaries and get a few results, of course the ones that died more than 20 years ago are ruled out. The picture is definitely not that old. "That's her," I comment after clicking on link, "it's even the same picture we were sent. The article is from five years ago."

"Ashley Brooks, age 34, died at Toronto General yesterday afternoon. She leaves behind a husband Jimmy and two children," Clare reads from the screen.

"That's a short obituary," I remark.

"Yeah, it barely says anything about her, doesn't even list why she died. She did die in a hospital though. Nothing else about other family, not much to go on. You should be able to look up her death certificate," Clare tells me and takes me to another program.

"I need a birth year, so I should search for her driver's license," I remark and Clare nods. After a little searching I find her license and get her birth year. And we find her death certificate. "Cause of death unknown, is that enough to have the case reopened?"

"Maybe, let's see if she has any other family in the area. Do a general search for Ashley and Jimmy Brooks," Clare says.

"Here's their wedding announcement from sixteen years ago," I comment.

There's not a lot of information in that either, but we find the names of their immediate family members. We also find that Ashley was a lawyer and Jimmy worked as a doctor at Toronto General.

"Let's go talk to the boss," Clare says tapping my arm. We go to his office and he waves us in.

"Find anything?" Simpson asks.

"A wedding announcement and an obituary. She died in the same hospital that her husband worked at. No cause of death listed though, it just says unknown," Clare tells him.

"Not enough to go before a judge on and get the case reopened. Standard procedure, take 48 hours to see if you can find enough cause to reopen the case, but be delicate," Simpson says.

"So, we go talk to the husband now?" I question.

"No, not the husband," Clare replies.

"Why? You think he's a suspect?" I ask.

"The people closest to the victim are always suspects, but the husband could still be grieving. Or he's since remarried and living happily, either way telling him we're looking into it again could cause problems and hinder the case. Let's not talk to the husband until we know what we're dealing with. Is Ashley's family still in town?" Simpson inquires.

"Not sure, we just found names," I reply.

"Okay, see if she has any family in town, otherwise phone interviews, but be delicate with what you say. Also, two of you go down and talk to the coroner and see what they have to say about Ashley's death," Simpson orders.

"Will do Boss," Clare says and I nod.

"What did the boss say?" Spinner questions when we leave Simpson's office.

"We need to see if Ashley has any family in town first," I reply.

"I'll send you the names of her parents from the wedding announcement, you guys look those up while we search for her stepbrother," Clare says.

"How come we're doing the harder work," Sean grumbles.

"We're all looking up names," Clare shoots back.

She follows me back to my desk and I type in the stepbrother's name. Without an age or birth year or anything we check driver's licenses first. We find a match in a few minutes and he lives in town. Sean says Ashley's mom and stepdad also live in town still, but her father and his husband live in California.

"Two of us talk to the family and two talk to the coroner about the autopsy," Clare remarks.

"You two take the coroner, teach Drew how to talk to a forensic pathologist," Sean comments taking the paper with Toby's address on it from Clare's hand.

"That's fine, we'll talk to the hospital and you take the family," I shrug and they give me a look. "Let's go partner, I'll buy the coffee on our way out."

"You have a crush on the coroner or something?" Clare laughs as we get our guns from our gun lockers.

"Been my experience that talking to a detached coroner is easier than talking to a distraught family member. I've never been great at talking to emotional people, whether it's anger or sadness."

"Good point, and yeah I can see that about you I guess," she smiles.

We grab coffee from the stand just down the street and she drives us to Toronto General. We check in with the receptionist before heading down to the morgue. A security guard lets us in and the coroner looks up when we enter. A man in his late forties with reddish hair looks at us.

"I'm D.C. Torres, this is my partner D.C. Edwards. We're here to ask you about an old case," I tell him.

"How old?"

"Five years," Clare tells him.

"I was working here then, what's the name?"

"Ashley Brooks," I reply.

He goes to a file cabinet and looks through some files before pulling one out, "Ah yes Brooks. This is one of those few that have always bothered me. I couldn't name a cause of death, she was young, in good health before being admitted to the hospital. There seemed to be no reason for her death."

"What was she admitted for?" Clare questions.

"Nausea and vomiting, she wasn't even here 24 hours before she died and her symptoms progressed so fast. They did a toxscreen for poisons, but it didn't show any abnormal levels. Of course, those only test for so much you understand. We can't test for every toxin in the world, so we test for the most obvious and most used. Mercury, Arsenic, Ehtelyne Glycol; things that are relatively easy to get your hands on and people tend to use. The only time we test for anything out of the ordinary is when we have a specific reason to test for it. Something like Thallium. I sent her blood and stomach tissue to test for some of the less common poisons, I had them test for anything readily available in the Toronto area. There were only trace amounts, same amounts you would find in any of us."

"So there was nothing that stood out during the autopsy?" I inquire.

"Other than her rapid death with no discernable cause, no. Her stomach and esophagus were pretty torn up when I saw her, but she'd been vomiting heavily and even the anti-nausea medications weren't working. I saw some blood in her stomach, bowel and urine. She had a small tear in the lining of her stomach, but again with the severity of her vomiting it wasn't surprising."

"Does the file say which doctors treated her?" Clare asks.

"Yeah, I'll write down their names, you can probably get her full medical records."

We get the names and go upstairs and back to reception, asking if the doctors still work there and if they are on shift today. Only one is on shift now and too busy to speak with us, but the hospital administrator does give us permission to take the medical records. The receptionist copies them for us and we get back in the car.

"I feel like a burger, the Blue and Gold has great burgers," I comment when we near the station.

"I didn't know you'd been to Blue & Gold before, it's not exactly close to your old precinct," Clare comments but does pull into the parking lot for the bar.

"No, but it's run by my best friend since high school, I'm here on the weekends a lot. Well, when I wasn't undercover anyway," I tell her as we get out of the car and walk into the bar.

"Hey Drew, hi Clare, you two must be here for lunch. I know what Drew wants, what'll you have Clare?" Owen asks her and she orders as we both take seats at the bar. "So, Drew being a good partner so far?" Owen questions after putting our orders in.

"So far, yes he's been a good partner. I didn't know you two knew each other at all, let alone since high school. So, tell me Owen, what was Drew like in high school?"

 **(SEAN)**

"What do you want?" Comes a disembodied voice after we knock on the door.

"Uh Mr. Isaacs?" Spinner asks. Clearly he has a video camera and speaker somewhere near the door, but we don't see them.

"Yes, who are you?"

"D.C.'s Cameron and Mason we need to speak to you about your stepsister Ashley Brooks," I tell him.

"Show me some credentials," he replies. We show him our badges and IDs and a minute later the door opens.

"We're glad we caught you at home, we thought we'd be leaving a business card," Spinner comments as we follow Toby to his living room. He's a few inches shorter than me, a square face, dark hair and glasses. He motions for us to sit on the sofa while he sits in an armchair.

"I work from home. You have news about Ash? Is there finally going to be an investigation?"

"Then you believe she was murdered?" I ask.

"I always have."

"Did you send her picture to the cold case unit?" Spinner questions.

"No, I hadn't thought of that, I'm glad someone has. I've been calling the precinct where she died every week since the day she died. There was never an investigation done. Cause of death UNKOWN, what kind of bullshit is that?" Toby growls getting angrier the more he talks about it. "She was admitted with violent stomach distress and was dead 19 hours later. All they could say at the hospital was it may have been a bad reaction to something she ate."

"Did she have any enemies?" Spinner asks.

"No, not the way you're thinking. None that I'm aware of anyway, no one outright hated Ash, not even in high school when she was Miss Popular."

"But you do believe someone killed her?" Spinner asks.

"Jimmy, I don't have a single doubt he's responsible somehow."

"Is there a reason you believe him to be responsible for Ashley's death?"

"Several, it wasn't always that way. Jimmy and Ashley were true high school sweet hearts. Off and on again all through high school, they got married the summer they graduated and attended the same college. Jimmy was popular, an all-star at sports, smart, funny, musical. He was great to Ashley, he was nice to me, even at school, even though I was just a grade nine geek when we met. I idolized Jimmy back then."

"When did that start changing?" I question.

"Not until after they graduated from college I guess, Jimmy had gone to medical school and Ash to law school. They had their future ahead them, but Jimmy still had to intern and he didn't get the placement he wanted. Ash was offered an amazing job at a top law firm in the city. Her career started to take off, she moved up fast in the law firm, and within a year they offered her a junior partnership. A few months later Ash got pregnant. They wanted kids, but not yet, they had always talked about having established careers first. Ash even told me she was on birth control and worried that Jimmy had tampered with it to get her pregnant."

"Did he?" I ask.

"I don't know, she told me and then refused to talk about it again. I tried to find her birth control once but it was gone at that point. I tried bringing it up again, but Ash would never talk about it. From that day on I started looking at Jimmy a different way. I watched him more closely, listened to the things he said more closely. I found that he seemed jealous of Ashley's success, while his career was stagnating at Toronto General. He was no longer the all-star, Ashley was outshining him and I think Jimmy resented it. He never said it out loud of course, or looked at her differently, I never found anything on his computer, but I just knew. That probably sounds crazy to you."

"No, following your instinct is always good. Did you have any other reason to think Jimmy killed Ashley. Tampering with birth control is a long way from murder," I remark.

"I have no proof he killed her, I just know he did. It just seemed like every time Ashely's career began to take off Jimmy would hold her back somehow. Getting her pregnant was just the first thing he did, of course it didn't really hold her back. Ash kept her partnership, even having a fairly difficult pregnancy she kept working up until the day she gave birth to Cara. She only stayed home six weeks before returning to work full time. They hired a live-in nanny to take care of Cara. A couple years later when Ashley took a full partnership at the firm she was suddenly pregnant again. This pregnancy was more difficult than her first and she couldn't understand why. She was forced onto bedrest, though she still managed to work on bedrest. James Jr. was born sick and weak, he stayed in the hospital for almost 10 days. Jimmy and Ashley started fighting about her quitting her job to stay home. Jimmy was so adamant about it and Ashley refused, after all her career was doing better than his. Shortly before she died Ashley told me she was considering a divorce, and would get custody of the kids. She would keep the nanny on. Hazel was a good nanny, Ash said, and Hazel had raised them anyway."

"Did Ashley file divorce papers?" I ask.

"No, it never got that far, she was dead before it could. I don't even know if she'd even told Jimmy she was considering it, just me. I don't think she'd even told our parents. At the end their marriage was falling apart, but I'm not sure anyone else knew. When Ashley was suddenly gone, dead of some mystery illness I just knew he'd killed her. I tried to get anyone and everyone to investigate, bus suspicion was not proof. Even when Jimmy married the nanny two months after Ashley's death they wouldn't investigate."

"Two months?" Spinner questions.

"Yeah, at city hall, they never even told anyone. We went down there and confronted Jimmy when we found out. He said the kids needed a mom, and Hazel was the only one they'd really ever known anyway. They said it was a marriage of convenience, that Hazel had her own room and everything. It still never seemed right to us. I can't prove it, but he killed my sister, that I'm sure of."

"Thanks Toby, we'll be in touch," I comment standing up.

"Are you reopening Ashley's case?"

"That's not up to us, we have to take what we know to our boss. If there's enough we'll reopen the case. We need to interview your parents as well," Spinner tells him.

"They will be at work, and may not be easy to find. I'll give you their cell numbers," Toby offers.

He gives me the numbers and we return to the car. Spinner calls Ashley's mom while I call her stepdad. Neither one answers, but we leave messages to call us back or to come down to the station. We return to the station, the boss is on the phone, so we sit at our desks to begin on paperwork.

"I can't wait to meet this brother of yours," Clare is saying to Drew as they lock up their guns.

"You can join us for drinks sometime," Drew grins.

"You guys find out anything?" I ask them.

"Yeah, Drew and Owen have been best friends since high school," Clare tells us.

"Seriously?"

"Yep, we were on the football team together. Related to the case we did find out that the coroner was suspicious of Ashley's death. She was there for less than 24 hours, admitted for acute stomach distress. They did tox-screens but found nothing."

"We got her medical records from the day she died," Clare tells them. "After she was admitted they ran a lot of tests, tried to control the symptoms with medication, but her symptoms continued to get worse. She was dead before most of the test results even came back. Although the test results didn't show anything helpful."

"We sp…" I begin when Simpson comes out of his office.

"Good, you're all back, what did you find?" Simpson asks waving us into his office. The four of us go in, Spin and I tell him first what we heard from Toby. Clare and Drew then tell him what they found out from the coroner and her medical records. They tell Simpson they weren't able to speak to any of Ashley's attending doctors. We tell him we weren't able to speak to her parents, but did leave voicemails on their cell phones. "Alright, I have some phone calls to make, might as well get started on the paperwork," Simpson comments.

He starts making a phone call and we leave his office. We're all about to sit down when a couple walks in catching our attention.

"Can we help you?" I ask them.

"Jeff Isaacs and Kate Kerwin, you called about our daughter."

"Yes, are you willing to answer some questions?" Spinner asks.

"Yes, of course," Kate nods, "are you going to investigate her death finally?"

"The boss is on the phone right now trying to get approval for an investigation. We'd like to interview you separately if that's okay?" I query.

"That's fine," Jeff replies.

"Kate why don't you come with us," Clare says motioning for her to follow them into Box 1.

"If you'll come with me," Spinner says to Jeff and he follows Spin to Box 2.

I go into observation and make sure the recording equipment is going for both rooms. We have to record anyway, but especially when no one will be in observation. After making sure the recording equipment is on I knock on the boss's door and he waves me in. He's on the phone, but puts his hand over the mouth piece before talking to me.

"What is it Cameron?"

"Ashley's parents just came in. Drew and Clare are interviewing her mom in one and we have her stepdad in two. Recording equipment is going."

"Thanks, I'll go into observation as soon as I'm off the phone," he says.

I nod and close the door, walking to box two where Jeff is sitting on one side of the table. I sit next to Spinner on the other side of the table. Jeff is talking about Ashley's sudden death.

"…it just didn't make any sense, she was healthy, doing really well at her job. We had seen her and Jimmy and the kids just two days before at dinner. There was a weekly dinner at our house and it was rarely missed, their family and Toby. Then two days later we're getting a call from the hospital that she's dead."

"Did Ashley have any enemies that you know of?"

"No, Ash was one of those people that everyone loved. There was some jealousy in high school and college, she was always popular, had a beautiful voice, was very smart. She and Jimmy were the "It" couple in high school and college. Just petty jealousy though, and Ash was used to it, no one ever did anything to harm her."

"What about her relationship with Jimmy?" I inquire

"Wonderful, in the beginning. When I first met Ashley she was a sophomore in high school, she was queen of the school and Jimmy was king. They were off and on all through high school and got married that summer, they were in love. Things were going so well for them, both of them, at least until Jimmy began the harder classes in medical school. He was struggling and he was stressed, that was evident, but their marriage didn't seem to falter. He was just more stressed than I'd seen him, and…" Jeff pauses a minute looking at his hands, "I didn't notice it at the time really. Maybe I just wasn't thinking about it, but he talked down to her a little. Trying to belittle her own accomplishments I suppose."

Spinner and I exchange a look; this is basically what Toby told us.

"Things continued to get better for Ash, harder for Jimmy. She had a job before she ever even graduated, and she graduated at the top of her class. Jimmy still had to intern, and was angry when he was placed at his last choice hospital. He graduated in the middle of his class, no standout accomplishments. Even interning at Toronto General he just struggled, he was frustrated and he hated emergency medicine. He was hired on at Toronto General after his internship for the emergency room. We thought he'd be happy, but he hated it. He said all they did was treat minor injuries, send people home that didn't really need to be there, and treat convicts and vagrants brought by the city. He said it was a waste of his talents."

"Do you believe Jimmy would ever hurt Ashley?" Spinner inquires.

"I'd like to say no, but I just don't know. I've thought about it over and over since she died. He was angry, and stressed, and I suppose jealous of Ashley's success. He wanted her to stay home with the kids, they argued about it. He was never violent or anything, and Ashley was never afraid of him. Never did his behavior change so dramatically that it would cause alarm for any of us. Ashley was at home when she got so violently ill, and when Jimmy married Hazel just two months later, that's when we began to wonder. When we began thinking back over everything he'd ever done or said. When we started to realize that he'd been controlling, even back when they were in high school."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Ashley had wanted to go out for cheerleading one year and Jimmy talked her out of it. She was going to go to Ottawa for law school, and then he convinced her to go to U of T with him. It didn't seem suspicious or anything at the time, but looking back on it now it seems controlling. I don't think Ashley ever even realized it, but she told us she decided to go to U of T instead to stay around and be near Jimmy."

"Anything else to add Mr. Isaacs? Anyone else have a motive for hurting Ashley? Any other suspicious behavior from Jimmy?" I inquire.

"I don't really know Hazel that well, we only met her a couple of times before she married Jimmy. She was just the nanny you know, and Ashley spoke highly of her. But, I suppose given the rapid marriage after Ashley's death she might have a motive. I'm sure there's more I'm not thinking of right now, more of Jimmy's behavior that was seen differently after she died."

"That's alright, if you think of something you can always call us or come back to see us at the station. We'll take you back out to the bullpen and see how our partners are doing with your wife," I tell him opening the door. "You can sit here; can I get you some coffee or anything?" I offer motioning to the chair next to mine and Spinner's desks. Spin sits down at his desk and goes back to the paperwork.

"Water please," Jeff says. I walk to the breakroom and return with a glass of water for him. Simpson comes out of observation just as I hand him the water.

"Your wife will be out in a few moments Mr. Isaacs. I wanted you to know that we've been given the go-ahead to open an investigation. Because there was never an investigation to begin with we don't have anything to re-open. If you or your wife think of anything else you didn't bring up in your statements today please call me or my officers, or come back to the station," Simpson says.

"Thank you, it's a relief to know that someone is looking into this finally," Jeff replies. Simpson smiles and goes into his office, and Jeff looks at me. "Why are you looking into it after all these years? Is it even considered a cold case?"

"With no original investigation no, but we are investigating now. We were sent Ashley's picture from her obituary in the newspaper, just the picture with her name. The words look again were written across the picture," I explain.

"Toby? He's worked very hard to get an investigation open."

"We asked him, he says he didn't send it," I reply.

"I wonder who did then? For the last five years it seems like we're the only three that care," Jeff remarks.

All I can do is shrug, but it doesn't matter Kate, Clare and Drew come out of box 1. We tell Kate that we're officially opening an investigation, and if they think of anything else to let us know. When Jeff and Kate leave Simpson comes out of his office again.

"Why don't you four finish up your paperwork for the day and call it a day. Tomorrow you split up; two of you go talk to the nanny at the house, two of you take Ashley's law firm, and the hospital. If Jimmy is home speak to him there, but speak to him and Hazel separately, bring them into the station if necessary. If he's at work talk to him there, but talk to him first, before any of the other doctors. Be in touch with each other, I don't want Jimmy and Hazel being able to get stories straight. I'm cutting out a little early for a family thing," Simpson says. We say goodnight and get back to the paperwork, comparing notes with each other on what the parents said. What they said is basically what Toby said as well.

"I'm gonna grab a drink before I go home," I remark grabbing my coat when we're done.

"I'll join you," Clare comments getting her coat and purse, "I want to see if Owen has any more stories about Drew."

"He has lots, but I have just as many about him. I'd join you guys, but I'm meeting my girlfriend for dinner. See you guys tomorrow," Drew waves grabbing his jacket before leaving.

"I'll come with you guys," Spinner says. There's a light snow now, but we still walk down the street to the bar.

"Hey guys, your usual booth is open," Owen tells us. It's still on the early side, so there aren't too many people in the bar now.

"So, we hear you know Drew," I comment when Owen comes over to get our drink order.

"Yeah, since high school, he's a good guy. It'll be cool to have him right down the street with the rest of you. So, what can I get you three?" Owen asks. We order drinks and Owen goes to the bar, returning a moment later with a pitcher of beer for me and Spin and a glass of wine for Clare.

"So, it's looking like the husband did it," Spinner comments as we begin drinking.

"Or he and the nanny did, getting married two months after her death is mighty suspicious," I remark.

"I agree, but we still haven't talked to Ashley's law firm, lawyers have a tendency to make enemies," Clare reminds us.

"Good point," I nod, "so who's going where tomorrow?"

 **Update soon, likely picking up from the next day. Next story to be updated is** _ **"Why Do I Want Him Still?"**_


	8. It's Over It's Done

**Hello Readers, this chapter should have been up a while ago, unfortunately, RL got in the way. So, in the interest of moving things along and not holding up the other chapters any longer I am cutting this chapter a little short.**

 **Ch. 7 It's Over It's Done**

 **(CLARE)**

"You want the former nanny or the law office?" Sean asks when he gets in Friday morning.

"We should first call the hospital to see if Jimmy is working today, and if so what his shift is. We have to make sure we question him, and the new wife separately and not let them talk," I remind him.

"Fine, you want to call the hospital?" Sean retorts just as Drew and Spin come in.

"Why don't you call the coroner we spoke to yesterday, he can see if Jimmy's on the duty roster discretely," Drew suggests.

"Good idea Drew," I smile. I make the call and he says he'll call me back in a few minutes. It's about ten minutes before he does call me back. He says Jimmy is working today in two hours, and the other doctors that treated Ashley are all on duty. I thank him for looking and ask him not to say anything to anyone. "Jimmy's on shift in two hours, but there's other doctors to talk to. I think we should all head to the hospital, we can grab the doctors for interviews and catch Jimmy as soon as he comes in. Then two of us can head to the house to talk to the new wife."

"Let's go talk to the boss, let him know the plan," Spin nods.

We leave our desks and walk to the boss's office and he waves us in. We tell him the plan and that we'll be out for several hours, he says to check-in. Splitting into two cars we drive to the hospital, and go to the administration office. After showing our credentials we explain that we're there to look into a suspicious death, but don't elaborate. We do tell them which doctors we wish to speak to, and they tell us where to find them.

Excluding Jimmy there are three other doctors to talk to. We'll meet back at the cafeteria for bad hospital coffee in an hour. One of the doctors is on duty in the ICU and goes off duty in half an hour. Sean and Spin go up to talk to her first. Drew and I take the head of emergency medicine, at the time of Ashley's death he was one of the first doctors to treat her. The other doctor comes on duty to the ICU in half an hour, Sean and Spin will talk to him too because they'll already be up there. If any of the nurses that treated Ashley still work at the hospital Drew and I will talk to them.

"You two find anything?" Sean asks. He and Spinner join Drew and I at a table in the hospital cafeteria.

"Dr. Jasper was only on duty for a few hours when Ashley was brought in. She said Ashley's symptoms were acute and she was getting sicker by the minute. She didn't really offer much other than to say she was very worried and was sure Ashley wouldn't make it through the night. She also said that Jimmy stayed at her side the whole time, never leaving for a moment," Drew says.

"Yeah, pretty much what Dr. Bowles and Dr. Fielding said too. Acute symptoms, she was getting sicker by the minute and they couldn't figure out why. Jimmy never left her side, and she died fast and mysteriously." Sean remarks.

"Jimmy will be on shift soon, two of us should go to the house and talk to the former nanny and current Mrs. Brooks," I comment.

"We'll go to the house, you two can stay at the hospital," Spinner replies.

"Text us when you're there, we'll text you when we have Jimmy in an interview," I tell them.

"We should go talk to the supervising doctor on duty. Tell them we need to speak to Jimmy when he gets here, catch him before he gets on the floor," Drew comments when Sean and Spin leave.

"Good idea, maybe the supervisor can catch him when he comes in and bring him to us in a private room."

"Dr. Musso," Drew calls to the older man with the grey beard and grey hair, wearing a suit under his physician's coat. We had to ask who the supervising physician was in the emergency room, where Jimmy is still working.

"May I help you?" He inquires looking us over.

"D.C.s Edwards and Torres, we need to speak to Jimmy Brooks somewhere private when he comes in," Drew explains.

"What is this about?" Dr. Musso asks.

"I'm afraid we can't divulge that; this is an ongoing investigation. We just need your assistance in getting him to a private room where we can talk," I reply.

"He'll be coming on shift in a few minutes, I'll take you to a place you can meet in private," Dr. Musso nods. He shows us back to what seems to be a sleeping room, but no one is in here right now. "I'll catch Drew when he comes in and bring him back here," Dr. Musso says before leaving us in the room.

There's really only beds in here, so neither of us sit down. There's no windows, and three beds with little nightstand tables. After a couple of minutes, we hear footsteps approaching and look at the door.

"Who are you?" Jimmy questions as Dr. Musso is closing the door.

"D.C.'s Edwards and Torres, please sit down Mr. Brooks," Drew instructs while I text Spin that we have Jimmy.

"What is this about?" Jimmy asks but does sit down.

"We need to ask you a few questions about the death of your first wife," I inform him.

"You think I killed my own wife? Her family had the case reopened didn't they?" Jimmy growls and slams his fist into the mattress.

Drew and I exchange a look, he seems to be angrier that the case was reopened than concerned about getting the truth. Everyone grieves in their own way of course, but this kind of outburst is usually indictive of hiding something.

"We received an anonymous note at the cold case unit to look into the case again. Her family was happy to know that the case was being reopened. They claim to have nothing to do with the note however," I inform Jimmy.

"They sent it, of course they sent it. They've always thought I killed her, they used to love me you know. Thought of us as the perfect couple, they were thrilled when we got married, but they began to resent me, hate me. Our marriage wasn't perfect, but I didn't kill my wife," Jimmy insists with a growling tone. He's clenching his fist so tightly that his knuckles are turning white.

"Weren't you at all suspicious about the cause of her death?" I question. "From everything we heard Ashley became ill and was dead a few hours later, you didn't think that was suspicious?"

"No, maybe I should have been, but when she first got sick I was just so worried. I brought her to my hospital, doctors I knew and knew would give her the best treatment. She was dead so fast, but they tested for things, poison and food poisoning and never found anything. Hazel, the kids, myself we never got sick. If it was poison I figured the doctors here would find it."

"You have to admit that a lot of your behavior was suspicious. Marrying the nanny only two months after the death of your wife," Drew comments.

Jimmy suddenly slumps and releases his fist, "That was not my best decision. I had young kids that had just lost their mother. Hazel had practically raised them anyway; I was trying to keep things as stable and as easy on the kids as possible. It was a practical decision not a romantic one. It's a marriage of convenience and practicality, she never even moved out of her room. We didn't have a ceremony or anything because we didn't need one. I probably should have thought to tell my family and Ashley's, but I didn't. It's a business arrangement really, nothing more. I should have handled it better, but at the time I just wasn't thinking."

"Were you and the current Mrs. Brooks ever romantically involved?" I inquire.

"No, never, you can ask her yourself. Hazel is sweet, she's great with the kids, but even when I was fighting with Ashley sleeping with Hazel never entered my mind."

"Were you faithful to Ashley, her family seemed to be under the impression there were problems in your marriage," Drew comments.

"There were problems, more than I'd like to admit to. I was jealous of her career, I was frustrated; at school, my internship. I never slept with Hazel but there have been others…are others. They were never relationships though, not even now. When Ash was alive I had a few trysts, at very low points. The only one that was ever more than a one night stand was a former intern here. It lasted a couple months, I broke it off shortly before Ash died. I don't know if she knew about the affairs, but I was hoping we could work things out. I didn't know for certain that she was considering divorce, but I had my suspicions. We were fighting a lot, I was avoiding home, taking more shifts, going out to drink with friends after work. I was avoiding everyone in my life really, and Ash and I weren't in a good place," Jimmy confesses.

Drew and I exchange a look and look back at Jimmy. Nothing about what he said convinces us he's innocent.

"Look, I know how it sounds, I'm the husband of course I'd be a suspect. I didn't kill my wife, we had our problems, I was jealous of her success, but I didn't kill her. I was going to try and work on myself, on our marriage. When she got sick I was devasted, there was no more time for second chances. I confess to acting rashly, making bad decisions, not thinking through decisions completely. I confess to not being a great husband, but I did love my wife and I didn't kill her. As far as I know she just got mysteriously ill, she died suddenly and I was trying to cope, trying to keep my children from feeling her loss as much as I could. If someone did kill Ashley I will do anything I can to help you find them and bring them to justice."

"Would you consent to a full search of your house?" Drew asks.

"Yes, anything, search anywhere and everywhere in my home, see that I have nothing to hide."

"I'll call the boss, he can send over the paperwork," I tell Drew.

I call Simpson and tell him Jimmy consented to a search of his house and we need the paperwork for him to sign. Since it's a voluntary consent to search that's a lot less paperwork. Simpson faxes over the paperwork and Jimmy signs giving us full access to the house. When it's signed I scan it with my phone and send it back, we'll drop off the originals when we return to the precinct. Simpson acknowledges that he received the paperwork and is sending some uniformed officers over to assist Spinner and Jimmy.

"We'll be in touch, and we may have more question," Drew says to Jimmy while I text Spinner that Jimmy consented to a search.

"Of course, here's my business card, all my contact information is on it," Jimmy says handing the card to Drew.

"Thanks, we'll let you get to work now," I comment and the three of us leave the room together.

"What do you think?" Drew asks as we walk out to our car.

"I'm not sure," I shake my head, "either he is very calculating and duplicitous, seemingly innocent and mournful to throw us off. It's also possible that he is innocent, a victim of bad luck and rash decisions."

"Yeah, I'm not sure either, usually I'm pretty good at reading people…not in my own life, but suspects and people I interview. Jimmy is different though, when he reacted with so much anger I was sure he was guilty. He seemed only to be angry that someone had the case reopened, didn't seemed at all concerned about us finding the truth. When he was talking about his reasons for marrying Hazel, watching Ashley die, their relationship. There were moments of sincere emotion, and other moments when I wasn't sure if he was playing us, or sincere."

"Yes, I know what you mean. He's still our prime suspect, but now I'm not so sure he is guilty. I guess we'll see what Sean and Spin find at the house and talking to Hazel. Let's check in with the boss and go to Ashley's office, see what her co-workers say."

"Sounds like Ashley spent most of her time at work, her co-workers probably knew her best anyway," Drew nods.

 **(SPIN)**

"They're speaking to Jimmy, we should knock on the door," Sean says after looking at his phone.

We pulled up to the house a moment ago, but waited until we knew they were speaking to Jimmy. We didn't want Hazel or Jimmy to contact the other, no chances to get their stories straight, in case they did conspire to kill Ashley, it wouldn't be the first time.

We get out of the car and lock up, the house is nice but not a mansion. It's two stories, or possibly a split level, hard to tell from out here. A driveway leads to a three car garage and stone path between lovely manicured gardens leads to the front door. Sean knocks and we wait a moment for the door to open. A heavy wooden door with stained glass in the upper center. We see a head peek through one of narrow windows at the sides of the door.

"Yes, can I help you?" She asks. She's black with almond eyes and hair she has pulled back into a bun.

"Hazel Brooks?" I ask and she nods. "I'm D.C. Mason, my partner D.C. Cameron, we need to ask you some questions."

"Please, come in," she says waving us in. "The children are at school, we can talk in here," she tells us showing us into the kitchen. It's a very nice kitchen, looks as though it were remodeled in the last few years. Lots of dark wood with granite countertops and a large center island. "Can I get you coffee or water or anything?"

"Coffee please," I reply and Sean nods. She turns on a single use coffee maker and then leans on the counter near it. "I wasn't sure anyone would listen," Hazel remarks with her head down.

"You sent the picture to the cold case unit?" I inquire.

"Yes," she nods sticking a coffee pod in the coffee maker. "I had to be sure, to know one way or another that Jimmy had nothing to do with it, or that he killed her," Hazel says setting the first cup of coffee on the counter and putting another pod in the coffee maker.

"Why send the note now? Why wait all this time?" Spinner asks.

"I'm afraid I don't have a good answer for that. When I saw the story about the cold case unit in the paper I thought there was a chance you'd look into it. That I'd know if my husband were innocent or guilty or if she died of some freak virus or something," Hazel tells us bringing over the coffee. She brings cream and sugar as well.

"Do you think Jimmy killed Ashley?" I question.

"They didn't have a good marriage the last couple years, they almost always seemed to be fighting about one thing or another. They did their best to hide the fighting from the children, but things were tense. Ashley worked a lot, Jimmy had night shifts a lot, he always said that's what he was put on, but I wondered."

"Were you and Jimmy having an affair?" Spinner inquires.

"No, not when Ashley was alive. I know that's what her family thought, especially after we got married so soon after Ashley's death. Our marriage is not one of love, but of convenience. I raised Cara and James. Jr. nearly by myself, Ashley was caught up in her career and Jimmy caught up in making something of his career. Do not misunderstand, Ashley loved her children with all her heart. As proud and as much self worth as she found in her job I believe her children were her only true sense of joy. When she was home she devoted every moment to her children, she was always fully present for them when they were awake, even when she had lots of work to do. There were many nights she would put the kids to bed and stay awake until two or three in the morning to finish her work."

"What about Jimmy? How is he as a father?"

"He loves them very much, he is a good father, he's never hurt them, he doesn't even like to punish them. Unlike Ashley he doesn't devote time to them, when he is home he's not really present. He keeps to himself, watches TV, he never plays with them or takes them anywhere aside from the occasional meal out."

"Did he ever hurt Ashley?" I question.

"No, not that I ever saw, I never saw her with unexplained bruises or anything either. He's never hurt me, he's not violent, just distant."

"How is your marriage otherwise?" Sean asks.

"On paper only, I never moved out of my room and into the master with him. We get along, we're friendly, there's nothing romantic or sexual about the relationship. It's practical, that is all. I'm certain that he's having affairs, but there's nothing I can do about it. The children don't know, he would never let them see him with another woman."

"So, Jimmy got a wife, someone to keep house and watch the children, but what do you get from this marriage?" I inquire.

"A stable home, a comfortable life, a marriage of convenience which allows me a comfortable life while I can have my own affairs. Jimmy's parents are wealthy, Ashley was making good money and her life insurance provided by her firm set us all up comfortably. It's nagged at me though, all these years, nagged at me, the question of whether or not he killed her. He didn't know about the life insurance, that was a surprise to everyone. When the children were born they both took out policies to cover funeral costs and things. As a partner at her firm that one was far mor substantial. I know that Ashley was considering divorce before her death, I'm not sure if Jimmy knew. Still I wondered if he simply wanted to end a bad marriage without divorce. We may not have a conventional marriage, but I had to know if the man I live with was capable of murder. If he killed Ashley to not go through a divorce could he do the same to me? He needs me now, but the kids are growing, what happens when I'm no longer of use to him?"

"Do you believe Jimmy capable of murder?" Sean asks.

"I honestly don't know, despite the years he's been part of my life I hardly know the man. I knew Ashley much better, Jimmy has always remained fairly closed off to me. Honestly, I'm not sure what he'd be capable of," Hazel tells us just as my phone alerts me to a text.

 **Edwards: Jimmy consented to a search of the house. Boss is sending unis to assist.**

"Your husband has consented to a search of the house. Some uniformed officers are on their way to assist," I inform Hazel and Sean.

"Yes, where would you like to start?" Hazel asks.

"We'll start with your husband's room," I reply.

Hazel nods and gets up from the table, so we follow her. She takes us upstairs and down a hallway to the master bedroom. We pass the children's rooms, one on each side of the hall. The doors are open, the rooms are nicely decorated and furnished, filled with toys and technology. The master is large with a king size bed and dark wood bedframe with an ornate headboard. Everything about the master bedroom is rich and dark; dark hardwood floor, dark bedding, dark wood furniture. There isn't much color and everything is in it's place. The room hardly looks used, more like a showpiece than a bedroom.

"Look at anything you like, when the uniformed officers get here I will let them in. Let me know if I can be of any help. I'll need to leave at two to pick up the children," Hazel says.

"Thanks, we should hopefully be done by then, depending on how many officers are sent," Sean comments. Hazel nods and leaves the room.

"There's no pictures," I remark when Hazel is gone.

"What?" Sean asks.

"No pictures, not a single one, not of Ashley or the kids, not even himself. There seems to be nothing personal in this room. I've been in hotel rooms with more of a personal touch."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," Sean nods.

"Well, where should we start?" I ask.

"Anything I wanted to keep secret I always kept in my closet or under the bed," Sean replies.

"The bed frame goes to the floor, not sure we can get under the bed. We'll have to lift the mattress," I tell him.

We toss off the pillows and strip the blankets and sheets off. The king size mattress is heavy, but we manage to get it up and slide it off. The box spring is easier, it comes up easily, under the bed is clean. We even feel around the wood frame, but there's no secret compartments or anything. We get the box spring back in and hear a knock on the door, as we're struggling with the mattress Dave and several other officers come into the room. They help us get the mattress back on, but we don't remake the bed.

"We showed Mrs. Brooks the paperwork, but she's most accommodating, said she didn't even need to see it. Where would you like us to start?" Dave asks.

"Two to a room, search thoroughly, we are not sure what we are looking for. Anything to show that there was malicious intent or a plot for murder, anything suspicious. Start with the children's rooms, try to put them back together before the kids get home from school," Spinner instructs.

Dave nods and pulls the other officers out of the room and they begin splitting up to search. The two of us go to the master closet next, a very nice and very neat walk-in closet. Despite there being no pictures in the bedroom all of Ashley's clothes remain in the closet.

"I would have expected those to be boxed up," Spinner remarks looking at Ashley's clothes.

"Me too," I reply looking up and something catches my eye, "what do you suppose is in this?" I query taking down a small metal lockbox from the top shelf.

"Secrets I'm guessing, you think we can open it?"

 **The next update will pick up from right here and include Clare and Drew at Ashley's office. The next story to be updated is** _ **"Tell Me I'm the Only One".**_


	9. Some Flowers Bloom Dead

**Hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy. Be sure and check out the new stories on my list, two short stories and one long one.**

 **Ch. 9 Some Flowers Bloom Dead**

 **(DREW)**

"Do you have an appointment?" The secretary asks hardly looking up at us. She's in her early twenties, blonde with a nasally voice that grinds at my ears.

"D.C. Torres, this is my partner D.C. Edwards, we're investigating the death of Ashley Brooks."

"I'm sorry, who?" She questions finally looking at us.

"There's a memorial to her on the wall there," Clare points out with an annoyed huff.

"Oh right, the lawyer that died or whatever. I've only been working here a year, I can't help you."

"That's fine, we don't actually want to speak to you, we want to speak to everyone that worked with her. We need to speak to your boss," Clare says getting even more annoyed.

She blinks at us and looks back at her computer, from the reflection in the pictures behind her I see she's chatting in social media. "In a meeting," is all she says.

"Tell whomever is in charge of this office that there are two homicide detectives here, and we need to talk to them," I assert.

She shoots me look, closes down the social media site she was on, and picks up a phone. "There's two cops here _demanding_ to speak to you," she says when the other line gets answered. "Have a seat," she tells us after hanging up the phone.

Clare and I look at the secretary, but choose not to sit down. We look at Ashley's memorial on the wall, it's a simple portrait, a very professional one, probably one she took when she made partner. The engraved plaque underneath the picture simply has her name and position on it, and above the picture the date of her death.

"I'm Gordon Barnes, Senior Partner," a man's voice causes us to turn around. He's in his early fifties, robust with a large belly and jowls, but in a very expensive suit.

"Detective Constable Edwards and Detective Constable Torres, we're investigating the death of Ashley Brooks," Clare explains.

"You're from the cold case unit, I recognize you from the article, please come into my office," Mr. Barnes says motioning for us to go through the doorway. We're taken back to the largest office, the first thing you notice is the ornate dark wood desk. Dark wood bookshelves line the walls, law books line the bookshelves. Mr. Barnes law degree and articles about cases he's won are prominently displayed. Mr. Barnes sits behind the desk, Clare and I sit in the plush leather chairs on the other side of his desk. "Ashley was a great lawyer, she had a way of connecting to judges and juries, people. I hired her myself, made her a junior partner, she was moving up quickly. She'd be a senior partner now if she hadn't died, it was so tragic and sudden we could hardly believe it. We'll help in any way we can."

"We'll need a list of current and former employees, anyone that worked with Ashley during her time here," Clare says.

"Of course, I'll have my assistant put that together for you, everyone still works here," he tells us and then types on his computer, presumably asking his assistant to get the list.

"Did Ashley talk about her home life much?" I question.

"No, not really, she was a fairly private person. I met her kids once at a company event, and we saw Jimmy at all the company parties. I know there were troubles in their marriage near the end, Jimmy did seem a little two-faced every time I saw him. I'm sure that sounds funny coming from a lawyer. He was very affable, and social, yet private, and never wanted to discuss Ashley's accomplishments. I know all too well that the ones closest to the victim are usually the ones that hurt them the most. If you're asking if I think Jimmy killed her I think it's a good possibility. A couple weeks before her death Ashley came to me asking for a good divorce lawyer."

"How did she get along with the people at the office?" Clare inquires.

"As far as I know, very well. I never heard any complaints about Ashley's work."

"What about professional rivalries? She was young, pretty new to the firm, female, and moved up fast. Did she bump anyone from a promotion or anything?"

"We always consider multiple candidates when looking at possible junior partners or senior partners. Of course we always have to turn down others for promotion, people are disappointed if they aren't promoted. You're not suggesting that someone from this office killed her because they felt she took their promotion are you?"

"People have killed for less, and we must explore all possibilities. Do you have anything else to add?"

"No, I'm afraid not, if I can think of anything I'll tell you. Sylvia has that list for you, we have all of Ashley's case files if that's helpful? Anything not related to work was wiped from her computer when she died."

"Yes, that would be helpful," I nod.

"I'll have Sylvia get it all for you, her office is the small one outside the door to the right. She'll assist you with anything you need, if I can be of any further assistance, or think of anything else I will tell you."

"Thanks for the assistance Mr. Barnes," I reply as we get up. Clare and I leave his office and are abruptly met by a woman in her late thirties. She has a chocolate brown hair and dark round eyes. Her sharp chin draws out her narrow oval face.

"I'm Sylvia, here's that list you requested," she says handing a piece of paper to Clare. "I've already checked, everyone is available except Kathleen Mead and Pete Riley."

"Thanks, I guess we'll start with whoever has the closest office," I comment.

"Miss Trenton's office, right there," Sylvia says pointing to a door. "I'll get those files for you, and if you need anything else just come to my office."

We speak to five lawyers and six paralegals, they all say pretty much the same thing. That Ashley was good at her job, good with clients, and worked very hard. They knew her marriage was failing in the end, and everyone is sure Jimmy killed her. She spoke to some people at work, others she kept fairly guarded from. As far as they know no one disliked her, everyone knew she was good at her job and good for the firm.

"You were Ashley Brooks assistant Miss Belmont?"

"Yes, I became her personal assistant when she made junior partner." Jenika Belmont is in her late twenties, round face and short blonde hair. She'll hardly look at us, it's not shyness it's fear that keeps her from making eye contact.

"Was Ashley a good boss? Clare asks.

"Yes, I liked Ashley, she was a good boss. She was patient and treated me with respect."

"Did you spend a lot of time with her? How well did you know her on a personal level?"

"Not well, she talked about her kids proudly. She spoke of her parents and her brother Toby, she didn't often speak of Jimmy though. I met him at some of the firms parties, I didn't much care for him. It was no secret that they were having problems before her death. She didn't talk me about it, didn't really talk to anyone about it as far as I know. It's hard to keep secrets in an office so small though. Ashley was different than most of these other lawyers."

"What do you mean by that?" I question.

"She worked hard, treated people well, she wasn't deceitful or looking for power. She wanted justice, treated everyone fairly. Even people that weren't always so nice to her."

"Did anyone in the firm dislike her?" Clare inquires.

"Openly, no," Miss Belmont replies and then goes quiet.

"Someone in the office did have an issue with Ashley?" I ask. It's obvious, but she's not talking.

She doesn't reply, but looks behind her at her current boss Kathleen Mead.

"Would you be more comfortable coming to the station to talk with us?" Clare queries.

"I'm off at six," she nods.

"Here's my card, if I don't hear from you by 6:15 I'm calling you," I tell her handing her my card.

"When will Miss Mead be available?" Clare asks.

"She's due in court soon, she's been on her phone since you got here."

"When she's done in court?" I inquire.

"She usually goes home, as a junior partner she can come in on Saturday to do the paperwork."

"If she comes in before you leave let us know, we're going to go talk to her boss about seeing her tomorrow," I comment.

Miss Belmont smiles from the corner of her mouth as she nods. We talk to Mr. Barnes about coming tomorrow if Kathleen Mead shows up, he says he'll arrange it with Sylvia. We thank him and leave the office, Mr. Riley is still in court, but his assistant said he would come to the station when he was out.

"I wonder what Sean and Spin found at the house?" Clare muses as we begin driving back to the station.

 **(SEAN)**

"You guys find anything at the house?" Drew asks when he and Clare return to the office.

"Maybe, we still have officers and forensics guys coming every inch of that place. Ashley had a lock box in the closet with divorce papers, proof of Jimmy's infidelity, things like that. Pretty much a box of motive," I tell them.

"Hazel is the one that sent in the picture, she needed to know if Jimmy killed Ashley. I don't think she was complicit, it is definitely more of a marriage of convenience. They don't even share a bed," Spinner remarks.

"Yeah, Jimmy told us as much," Clare comments just as the boss comes back.

"Oh good, you're all back, come into my office and update me," Simpson says.

We follow him into his office and update him on what we all found or found out. Jimmy is playing innocent, but based on what we found at the house I think he's still our number one suspect.

"Alright, Clare and Drew stay here and wait for this other lawyer to come in and the assistant. Sean and Spinner circle back with the family, talk to all of them," the boss says.

We leave his office and go to our desks, looks like Clare is starting on paperwork. I call Toby and ask to meet with him and his parents away from the precinct. He says he'll call his parents and call me back. He calls back a couple minutes later to say that we can meet at his parent's house in half an hour. I tell Spin and we leave, arriving at the home at almost the same time Toby does.

They ask a lot of questions, wondering what we found, but until we have something solid and have made an arrest we can't say anything. They don't have anything new to add, nothing that differs from what the told us to begin with. Just as we're leaving though Drew texts to say that Kathleen Mead is back at the law firm. Kathleen's assistant is leaving in a few to go to the station, and talk with Clare and Drew. So Drew wants us to rush over and talk to Kathleen before she leaves the office.

"Thanks for your time, we have to go. We have someone else we need to speak to, we'll be in touch," I tell Ashley's family.

"Where're we headed?" Spin asks once we're in the car, since he didn't see the text.

"The law firm, Kathleen is back, we need to catch her."

We make it to the firm and catch Kathleen just as she's trying to leave her office.

"Not so fast Miss Mead, we need to speak to you," Spinner says as we show her our credentials.

"I have nothing to say to you," Kathleen replies with a sharp tongue. Her sharp tongue suits the rest of her features, she's got a long oval face, a sharp nose, her blonde hair pulled tightly into a neat bun. She's well dressed and completely put together, simple makeup but applied well. She's in her early forties, no wedding ring, no jewelry at all. She reminds me of a very strict teacher I had in fifth grade.

"We didn't even tell you why we were here," I point out.

"Everyone knows why you're here, it's no secret that you're looking into that suck-up's death," Kathleen spits back trying to move past us but we stop her.

"You seem to be the only one in the office that didn't like Ashley very much," Spin remarks.

"I was the only one not fooled by her, I know her type. Teacher's pet, but not based on her work. The world gets handed to those kinds of girls without them having to work. Pretty, privileged, all she had to do was smile…and I'm sure spread those long legs of hers. I had to claw and scratch my way to where I am, everything I have I earned."

"Then you must have been really angry when Ashley was made junior partner so quickly," I comment. It really wasn't a question, the way Kathleen looks when she talks about Ashley, what she says you know she hated her.

"Of course I was angry, I was up for that promotion, Ashley didn't deserve it. I have no idea how she got it, I'm sure I don't want to know. I'd been here twice as long as Ashley, had twice as many cases, that promotion should have been mine. She came in and stole it all, the new bright light for the firm, she took all my cases, and was handed a promotion I worked very hard for. I worked hard all my life for everything I have and she came in and stole everything I worked for, everything I sacrificed for. You should have seen how she fooled everyone when she said she needed medical leave for a difficult pregnancy! Of course they gave it to her, I knew she was faking."

"After Ashley's death you took her position," Spin says. Again, it's not a question and Kathleen definitely has motive.

"Yes, the promotion I deserved all along, but I didn't kill her. Her husband killed her, everyone knows it, a doctor that had plenty of access to poisons and toxins. It was my bit of fortune that he hated her more than I did. I can only imagine trying to live with her. I've told you what you want to know, can I go now? I've been working since five this morning preparing for court today."

"If we have anymore questions we'll be in touch," I reply and we let her pass.

"Return to the office?" Spinner questions when Kathleen is down the hall.

"The door to her office is open, let's go take a look."

"No warrant," Spin says.

"Don't touch anything, just look around, anything out in the open that might give us more cause for a warrant. Then let's head back to the station, we need to tell the others."

We walk into Kathleen's office and look around. Most of the furniture is built in, the only thing she seemed to choose is a clean glass desk, everything in an exact place. Her chair, dark brown leather with a high back and wood arms, it resembles a throne. I'm sure that's how she sees herself, better than everyone else, on a higher level than everyone else. Kathleen's degrees and accolades, going back to junior high adorn the walls and shelves. Along with a few pictures of Kathleen and nothing else, no family, no friends, not even pets, just her. Like most of the other offices here law books line the shelves, but something sticks out to me, a book that's much skinnier than the others, not as worn. I walk over to look at the title, **Guide to North American Toxic Plants**.

"Interesting," I remark snapping a picture of it with my phone. "Let's head back Spin, I think we have enough."

Spin nods and we leave the office, we're not the last ones here, there's a lawyer and his secretary still here. He sees us as we're leaving, nods to us and we nod back. I tell Spin about the book as we drive back to the station. When we get back we don't see Drew and Clare at their desks, but they haven't left yet. The boss isn't in his office either, his lights are on though, they haven't gone home. Unless they're in archives or something they're probably interviewing someone. We go into observation where we find Simpson and Drew, Clare is interviewing a young woman alone in box 1.

"Kathleen's assistant, formerly Ashley's assistant, she seemed to be most comfortable with Clare alone. How'd the interview go with Kathleen?" Drew asks.

"She didn't want to talk to us, and she definitely hated Ashley. She also knew a great deal about Jimmy, where he worked and the failings in their relationship. That was pretty suspicious. We found something else interesting," I comment showing them the picture of the book.

"Alright," Simpson says after we've told him about the interview, "I'll see about getting a warrant right away. You guys will have to come in tomorrow and conduct simultaneous searches, Kathleen's home and office. I think we have sufficient cause to get one right away. If we wait until Monday and Kathleen has something to hide I'm she will."

"Right Boss," I say and the others nod.

Clare has finished her interview and walks the woman out, the boss is already back in his office. The three of us go out to meet Clare and tell her what we found and what the boss said. We're still telling her when Simpson waves us into his office.

"No warrant, not enough for a search of her home. I did call Gordon Barnes and he gave us permission to search Kathleen's office tonight. He'll meet you there to let you in, you find enough at the office I'll rouse the judge again," Simpson tells us.

 **(CLARE)**

"Mr. Barnes these are our other partners; Cameron and Mason," I introduce the guys.

"I'd say nice to meet you, but under the circumstances," Mr. Barnes says.

"It's okay, we get that a lot," Spinner replies.

"I don't want to think that one of my team could have killed another," Mr. Barnes remarks as he unlocks the building and we follow him inside. He has to use a key card to start the elevator since it's after hours. "I know there was a bit of a professional rivalry between the two, up for the same promotions and a lot of the same cases, but so were some of the other lawyers here. Kathleen is a hard woman, determined, she's not the friendliest, she's smart though. We have to know, either way. Look at anything you need to, you have my permission to search the entire office."

"It may take a while," Drew says.

"I'll be in my office if you need anything," Mr. Barnes replies and walks down the hall.

"Do we have permission to look at her computer?" I question.

"I'll call one of our IT guys, have them unlock it for you. I will to have to have them seal any current cases she's working on," Mr. Barnes tells us.

"That's fine, current cases would have nothing to do with Ashley's death," I respond. Mr. Barnes nods and goes down the hall while we begin searching Kathleen's office.

"Here's the book I saw earlier," Sean says taking a small book from the shelf.

While Sean begins leafing through the book Spin just starts taking other books off the shelves. He's leafing through them, shaking them out, looking behind them. Drew and I begin opening the drawers in her desk and rifling through her papers. So far other than the book of toxic plants there's nothing that show's Kathleen is guilty of anything other than hating a co-worker.

"I'm Daniel from IT," a voice in the doorway makes us look over. He's tall and lanky, long blonde hair, and he looks rather nervous. "I'm supposed to unlock the computer."

"I'll watch you Daniel, you'll have to secure the files of her current cases. Anything not having to do with her current cases they have my permission to look at," Mr. Barnes says coming into the office.

They come over to the desk, so Drew and I begin looking at all the accolades she's got around the office. Trophies, degrees, awards and other things, anything that praises Kathleen going back to when she was a young kid. I have at least as many, but all of mine from high school and before are packed in boxes in my attic or garage. She's definitely trying to show that she's better than everyone, that she's always been better than everyone.

Drew and I take them all down, off the wall, the shelf, her desk. We open frames, look at the trophies to see if there's a compartment or anything. We're not finding anything, but Mr. Barnes says they're done with Kathleen's computer, so I go over to take a look. I've actually taken a couple of computer forensics courses on my free time (which shows you how much of a life I have) so I know what I'm looking for.

The first thing I do is search her e-mail folders and then archives. Her folders are set to never delete or archive, but there's nothing. Her browser history won't go back that far, but when I open her browser and begin looking through her bookmarked websites I find some interesting ones. There's a few on toxic plants, both in Canada and around the world. Several that allow you to buy such plants online for medicinal purposes. They only sell in small quantities, but that's all you need. There's one on extracting plant essence or grinding for medicinal purposes and another for making your own pills. She has a few sites bookmarked that sell the things you need to make your own capsules. Of course it's possible that Kathleen has some condition she's trying to self medicate for, but somehow I don't think so. I take pictures of all the websites with my phone.

"Hey, look at this," Drew says taking a piece of paper from a photo frame. He unfolds it and brings it over to me. It's notepaper from a yellow legal pad, short handed notes are jotted down. "Looks like a list of ingredients and measurements, but I can't figure out what the ingredients are. It definitely doesn't look like any recipe I've ever seen," Drew comments while I take the paper. There's something very familiar about the abbreviations.

"Wait a minute," I comment going back to one of the websites I was previously on. "Look, WH, Water Hemlock; and RP Rosary Pea. This is a list of highly toxic plants, and the measurements must be what she used. We need to talk to Jenika Belmont again, I think Kathleen made her own poison, something that wouldn't be found in a normal tox-screen. I'll call the boss and tell him what we've found so far. It might be enough for a warrant of Kathleen's house already. I'll also call Jenika, ask her to come back in tomorrow morning."

While the boys continue the search I step just outside Kathleen's office to make the phone calls. The boss says to take a picture of the list and send it to him with all the websites. I do that, and knowing it would take a while for him to get in touch with a judge regarding a warrant I call Jenika. She agrees to come in the next morning for a follow up interview. I return to the computer just as Simpson calls back, he says the judge granted seizure warrants for Kathleen's office and search and seizure warrants for her home. Sean and Spin will execute the warrant on her home in the morning with other officers. One of our computer forensics guys is on his way to take Kathleen's office computer.

The company has to secure anything related to Kathleen's current cases. None of that has to do with our case anyway, so it doesn't matter. The rest of the computer is coming with us to the station as evidence. We wait for the computer forensics guy, and then wait for him and the company IT guy to finish before we all leave. As soon as we're at the office the boss says to go home and get some rest, something everyone is ready to do. Especially as we'll be back tomorrow.

I go home and feed my dogs, too tired to cook I have cereal for dinner. I get ready for bed, falling asleep with my dogs on either side of me. I wake early, shower and dress, feeding the dogs before I leave. I grab breakfast from the coffee stand outside the precinct, Drew finds me out there and follows me inside.

"Jenika should be here in an hour," Drew remarks as we lock up our guns.

"Yeah, and as soon as Sean and Spin get here they'll go serve Kathleen with the warrant."

"Looks like the boss isn't even here yet," Drew says.

"Probably picking up the warrant," I reply.

We sit at our desks and start on paperwork, Simpson comes in about fifteen minutes later with he warrant in hand. Sean and Spin arrive together ten minutes after that, take the warrant and leave again. They'll take a team of uniformed officers and forensics guys with them.

"D.C. Edwards," Jenika says coming in.

"Hi Jenika, we can talk at the desk if you'd like?" I offer.

"Yes, that would be fine," she nods.

"Can I get you some water or bad coffee?" Drew asks and Jenika smiles.

"No thanks," she shakes her head.

"I'm going to record the interview if that's okay?" I question and Jenika nods.

I unlock my phone and put it to the recording app, hitting the record button. "Do you remember anything about the day Ashley died? Anything unusual?"

"No the day was pretty normal, Ashley had a busy day as usual, she was at the office before pretty much everyone."

"Did anything happen between Ashley and Kathleen that day?" Drew questions.

Jenika looks off into space with her lips pulled into her teeth, thinking back to that day. "Normally, they avoided each other, but in the late afternoon Ashley got a terrible headache. They had both been in court just before that, arriving back at the office at almost the same time because court was out for the day. Ashley came back with a terrible headache, and surprisingly Kathleen offered her what she said was a migraine pill. She told Ashley they worked fast, but she should go home first anyway because occasionally there's a side effect of nausea. Ashley took the pill, thanked Kathleen, closed up her office and left. Late the next day we heard she was dead. I should have thought of it before, I didn't even think to…"

"It's not your fault Jenika, you had no way of knowing. Everyone thought Jimmy killed her, no one was thinking Kathleen killed her," Drew assures her.

"Kathleen killed her didn't she? Over a job?" Jenika asks in disbelief.

"People have killed for much less unfortunately, and I think it goes deeper than a job."

"I'll call Sean, tell him what to look for," Drew says stepping away.

"Thank you Jenika, we have what we need, you're free to go," I tell her.

She nods and I turn off the recording app on my phone. We have more than sufficient cause for an arrest now. Even if the guys don't find anything at Kathleen's place. I'm about to go tell Simpson when he comes out of his office.

"Where's Drew?" He asks.

"Calling Sean, he'll be back in a second."

"Is the interview over?"

"Yeah, we got what we needed. Kathleen gave Ashley a pill she said was for migraines the night before she died. After what we found at her office we have enough for an arrest," I inform him.

"I'll call the judge and get the warrant," Simpson says and then Drew comes back.

"Sean knows what they're looking for," Drew says.

"Drew you need to get to Bridgepoint, your girlfriend's there," Simpson tells him. Drew looks worried, grabs his credentials and runs out.

"His girl okay?"

"Didn't say, just that he needs to get down there and she was in the ER. I'll call the judge for the arrest warrant and we can go meet the boys to serve it."

 **Update soon picking up from about here likely in Drew's pov and a new case that is very personal for Spinner. Next story to be updated is** _ **"Why Do I Want Him Still?"**_


	10. Weary to the Bone

**Hello readers, I hope everyone is doing well in this crazy time of uncertainty. To help a little (hopefully, at least it's a bit of distraction) I have added some new things to the DeGrassi Saviors website. The link is available on my profile page on this site.**

 **What's been added to the DeGrassi Saviors Site:**

 **1) On the homepage test your knowledge of my stories with a quiz. 35 questions, and I fully expect you to look for the answers. There will be prizes for the top scores.**

 **On my page it's all about reader feedback.**

 **1) Poll: Which unpublished Long Stories are you most looking forward to?**

 **2) Poll: Which unpublished Short Stories are you most looking forward to?**

 **3) Poll: Which Clare friendships (not romantic relationships) do you like most in stories?**

 **4) Sequels Survey, only three questions asking which already published stories you'd most like to see sequels for? Also, what you would want to see in the sequels.**

 **Only a few people have been brave enough to take the quiz yet, can you beat their scores?**

 **I've also had some good answers to the Sequels Survey and the plot bunnies have begun stirring.**

 **Ch. 10 Weary to the Bone**

 **(SPINNER)**

"Morning Spin," Drew nods to me when he comes in Wednesday morning. He still looks haggard, but he's looking better. When Clare and Snake came to Kathleen's to serve the arrest warrant on her they told us Drew's girl was in the hospital. He took Monday off and came back in yesterday, he didn't talk much and he looked like he hadn't slept in two days. Of course, all we did yesterday was paperwork on the Brooks case.

After Kathleen's arrest Saturday Sean and I spoke to the family. It was hard for them to come to terms with the fact that Jimmy hadn't killed his wife. Toby had spent a lot of time hating his brother-in-law. Ashley's parents I think were more relieved than anything else, they had their suspicions about Jimmy, and he hadn't always treated Ashley well, but he was the father of their grandchildren. Whether they all liked it or not Jimmy was a part of their family, a connection they could not sever because of Ashley's children.

Clare and Snake informed Jimmy and Hazel about the arrest. Clare said that Jimmy cried, guess it's something he's been holding onto. With the case reopened and old memories getting stirred up it often forces long guarded emotions to the top. It's time for them to start to heal and move on now. Of course it's not over yet, Kathleen is in jail but it will take a while to get to trial and this will all get drudged up again. Jimmy is likely to be on trial as much as Kathleen. Her defense attorney is sure to point the finger at Jimmy. Unless of course Kathleen pleads guilty.

"Morning Drew, how's your girl?"

"Better," is his only reply. He hasn't told any of us what happened, only that she's okay and not to worry.

He gets some coffee and sits at his desk, Sean and Clare come in at the same time. They ask Drew about his girl too, he gives them the same one word answer. The first couple hours of the morning seem to drag by as we do a tedious amount of paperwork. People do not realize how much paperwork is involved with law enforcement. I have to wonder if anyone actually reads all these forms and reports. Part of me thinks they just get sent to the file clerk and he files them away without another thought. Especially because four precincts all have the same file clerk, he works out of this precinct. He seems like an odd guy, but maybe it's all the isolation of the file room. I've only seen him a few times myself.

I'm about ready to get more bad coffee, just to keep from falling asleep at my desk, when my desk phone rings. It's my direct line, but that doesn't mean much, if you don't know the right extension the system just routes you to someone in the department you were trying to call.

"Detective Constable Mason, Cold Case Unit."

"She called for you before she died," a dry whisper of a voice says.

"Who is this?" I question in a demanding tone and the others look at me.

"What you need has already been delivered," the man says and then the line goes dead.

"What's up?" Drew asks.

"I have no idea, all he said was she called for me before she died. Then he said what I need has been delivered and hung up," I inform my partners.

"Better tell the boss," Clare says.

"Yeah," I remark getting up and ready to knock on Simpson's door.

"Mason, got an envelope for you," an officer calls from the entry. Rather than knock on Simpson's door I walk over and take the envelope. I return to my desk and open it. The contents spilling onto my desk, a few photos and a scrap of material. Before I even see the photos I know what it's about. The dark blue material is from the shirt Kendra was last seen wearing.

"What is it Spin?" Clare asks but they've all gathered around me now and Sean picks up one of the pictures.

"Is that…"

"Kendra," I say before Sean can finish.

Suddenly a rage I've been holding for the last fifteen years explodes, I make a growl and punch my computer monitor as hard as I can. Either I almost hit Clare or Drew was afraid I would as he pulls her out of the way very quickly. My monitor falls off my desk in a shower of sparks and cracked glass.

"What the hell is going on out here?" Simpson demands coming out of his office.

"He just got a lead on Kendra Sir," Sean speaks up.

"All of you in my office," Simpson replies holding the door open. Then he looks at the other officers still watching us, "Murphy call IT and maintenance, have them take care of the mess. I'll sign off on anything they need."

I gather the pictures, envelope and fabric from Kendra's shirt then walk into Simpson's office. The others follow me in and Simpson leans on his desk awaiting an answer. I tell him about the phone call and then the envelope being brought up by the officer.

"This was the only contents of the envelope, the fabric it's from Kendra's shirt when she disappeared. And, the photos," I whisper in a hoarse voice. I can barely get my voice out through the pain. I glanced at the pictures, and as much awful things as I've seen can't get myself to look at the pictures closely. From what I did see they aren't even that bad, but it's my baby sister that's in them that keeps me from looking any closer. "All the pictures are Kendra."

Simpson picks up the top picture, it's Kendra in a dark room, wearing a dress I've never seen before. She's in a bed, but she looks dead, not asleep, she's also not fifteen anymore.

"She's older in this picture," Simpson comments.

"Yeah, two or three years," I reply swallowing hard.

"So, someone kept her until she was at least seventeen or eighteen," Simpson remarks.

"She looks younger than that in the picture," Drew says.

"She always looked young for her age. When she disappeared at fifteen she looked like she was twelve. Whoever took her probably thought she was," I growl clenching my fists again. "This isn't a false lead, this is real, a solid lead. You have to let us take the case. Some sicko had my sister for two or three years, he did God knows what to her and the cops back then let the case go cold," I growl tensing up and getting ready to punch something again.

"Easy Gavin, calm down or you will be kept from the case because of the personal connection. Sean take your partner on a walk around the block. When you come back talk to the desk sergeant and look at the security video to see if you can figure out who brought the envelope. Drew and Clare, take the shirt to forensics tell them it's priority. See what you can get from the pictures, you should get them enhanced, and have the phone call that Spinner got traced."

"Yes Boss," the three of them say while I remain silent.

"Come on Spin, I'll buy you a cup of coffee," Sean says pulling at my arm.

We leave the office without our guns, Sean pushed me out the door before we got to our gun lockers. I think he's afraid of what I might do if I had my gun right now.

"All these years, wondering, waiting, hoping, and now…" my sentence trails off.

"You've suspected she was dead for a long time, I know you have. You told me yourself she had no reason to runaway, and she wouldn't just stay out of contact all those years."

"It's not just that, there was always a hope that she was alive somewhere, but I was sure that she wasn't. I got by all these years with this secret hope that she was killed by accident, hit by a car or messing around with friends she fell and hit her head. I've thought of every possible way it could happen, an innocent accident, no one meant for it to happen, and those that were with her panicked. Hid her body, never spoke of it again, carry around this hidden guilt. I would watch everyone we knew, see how they acted around the anniversary of her death. In every scenario in my head, it was a quick painless death, she was still gone but she didn't suffer."

I stop talking as we've reached the coffee kiosk. Sean buys us both coffee and a couple of donuts. I think he's trying to keep my hands full so I won't hit anything else.

"And, now?" Sean prompts when we're away from the coffee kiosk.

"Now," I breathe out the word as though it weighs a thousand pounds, "now I not only know she's dead I know she suffered. Now, I know that she was in the hands of some sick pedophile for those first two or three years. Now, all I have running through my mind is all the horrible possibilities of what she may have suffered through. The worst part of this is that I have to go tell my mom that we have a lead on Kendra's case, a real one. Bring her hopes up and then crush them when she finds out what. Tell her that not only is her daughter dead, but was in the hands of a pedophile for over a year. It's going to devastate her, and she's going to do what I'm doing, thinking of the absolute worst and darkest that humans are capable of."

 **(DREW)**

"I'll get the case approved, and convince them that Spinner can stay on the case. As long as he doesn't break anything else. We'll keep this quiet for now, but if it gets out the team is working on a cold case involving one of the team's family the press are sure to swarm," Simpson says looking at Clare, she gives just the slightest nod of her head to indicate she understands. "Take the evidence, make sure they know we've touched it," Simpson says handing Clare a pair of gloves.

She puts them on and gathers up the evidence. We take them out to our desks and get some evidence bags marking them appropriately. I follow her down to the forensics floor, we drop the fabric and envelope off to one person, the photos to another. When Clare hands the guy the photos she asks him to scan them in and send them to us via e-mail.

"So, Spinner had a sister?" I ask as we begin walking back to our desks. She looked nothing like him and was surely of Asian heritage, but I don't remark on it. Adam and I look nothing alike either, two different heritages, bloodlines, but brothers.

"Yeah, one day she just vanished. Spinner was already eighteen, living in a little apartment, working at a café. He had no ambitions for college or anything greater, and then Kendra vanished. Simpson was a D.C. like us back then, he worked the case, he got to know Spinner and his mom very well. There were no leads back then, and the leading officer decided she was a runaway and took the case from Simpson. Spinner took it really hard, he felt like everyone was writing his sister off. Which they really were. He started to just be angry, at everyone. He almost went down a really destructive path, but Simpson helped him. I don't know the whole story, but I know Spin is a cop now because of what happened to Kendra, and Simpson's support."

"That's cool that he's known Simpson that long," I comment.

"We need to get that phone call traced," Clare says sitting at her desk and picking up her desk phone.

Since she's doing that I sit down to see if the tech has sent us the pictures yet. I find them there, and open the first picture. It seems to be from around the time Kendra went missing, she's wearing the same shirt that the scrap of fabric is from. Spinner said she went missing in that shirt. She's also wearing denim shorts, and black sandals. She must have gone missing when the weather was warm. I pull up the original missing person's case and find that Kendra went missing August 22nd, Toronto weather would have been hot and muggy. Looking back at the picture I see she's on a dirt floor, but somewhere inside, so it must be a shed or cellar maybe.

"Call came from a burner phone, no way to trace it," Clare says after setting down the phone.

"Pictures are up," I tell her and she comes over to my desk. "This had to be the day she was taken, or shortly thereafter," I comment as she sees the picture on my screen.

"She's terrified," Clare says and I hear her swallow hard. "Bring up the next one," she says.

I click the next one; opening it to full size on my screen. This one is different, she seems a little older than first picture, but not as old as the picture Simpson looked at earlier. Kendra's hair is longer, she's sitting on a bed looking down, barefoot. She has her hair down, pulled over one shoulder, wearing a pink ruffled dress.

"She's in a house, in the daytime, the sun is filtering in," I point out.

"Look at her ankles and wrists," Clare says. I zoom in on the picture though the quality isn't that great when I zoom in.

"Looks like she was restrained. She's not terrified in this one, she's just broken," I comment.

"She's clean, she's in the house, this had to be several months after her abduction. She's been broken down, she's cooperating to survive. Bring up the last picture," Clare instructs. I click the final picture and bring it up.

"It looks like the same bedroom, only it's nighttime. Her dress is different, she's older than the last one. No ligature marks, he no longer had to restrain her."

"A picture from when he took her, one after she was broken, and one after she's dead."

"There isn't much in these pictures, they're close ups of Kendra, we can see very little in her surroundings. The first picture is so dark I can only see her and the dirt floor," I remark.

"We have to try. Bring up the first picture again, we'll get what we can. I'll start making a list of things to look into. We'll probably have to go back and canvas Spinner's old neighborhood."

I bring up the first picture again, Clare makes a list of anything we can see that may be a lead. The techs will enhance the pictures further and send them to us again, but we have to start somewhere. After that we go back and look at the original case, not that there's much there. Spinner and Sean return, they tell us the envelope was delivered by messenger and they're going to call the service.

Unfortunately that lead goes nowhere when the messenger service says the envelope was mailed to them. A postmark but no return address, and so all we have is that it was mailed yesterday from somewhere in Toronto. The envelope contained a money order to pay for delivery and very specific instructions on when to deliver the envelope to the precinct.

"You should look at that list of all the people in Kendra's life back then. See if anything new comes to you," Sean suggests to Spinner.

"Yeah, Mom should help with that. I'll go talk to the boss," Spin says.

Spinner is in Simpson's office for a few minutes before he and Sean leave. Clare and I spend a couple more hours looking over the photos and the original case file. We start setting up interviews with some of the people named in the file, a few of them were previously interviewed.

"You two should get home, tomorrow you'll canvas the neighborhood they lived in and do interviews. It'll probably be a long day," Simpson says coming out of his office and getting his coat on.

"Night Boss," Clare waves and Simpson nods to us.

"Adam and I are meeting for a drink, told him I'd text him when I was done for the day. You want to come? We're just meeting at Blue and Gold," I tell Clare.

"I'm not passing up a chance to meet Adam," Clare grins. I've told her quite a bit about Adam, usually when we're in the car driving, I know the two will get a long very well. "What about your girl? Will she be there too?" Clare asks as we begin walking downstairs.

"Katie? No, we're done," I tell her and she gives me this slightly horrified look. I suddenly realize saying I broke up with Katie just after she was in the hospital probably sounds incredible harsh. "She was in the hospital after an opiate overdose, something she's struggled with since high school. She's been clean for a couple of years, at least I thought she had. I'm not sure now, but I told her if she took them again I was gone. She's in a rehab, again, if she gets through it and stays clean we'll probably get back together. We grew up together, high school sweethearts, I really care about her, but I can't watch her kill herself with the opiates."

"I understand, I know what it's like to have people you care about have destructive addictions. I also know what it's like to shut them out of your life because of it," Clare tells me. She doesn't elaborate and we're almost at the bar anyway. I hold the door open for her and Owen looks at us when we come in.

"Hey Drew, hi Clare," he grins.

"Hey, we're going to take a booth and Adam is meeting us here."

"Sweet, I haven't seen Adam in ages," Owen says.

Clare and I sit in one of the booths and I text Adam to come down any time. I order a beer and a burger, Clare also gets a burger but she gets red wine instead of a beer.

"No Sean and Spin tonight?" Owen asks when he brings us our drinks.

"They're probably still at Spinner's mom's, we got a lead on Kendra today, Clare informs Owen.

"Like a good lead?" Owen asks.

"Like the guy called Spin, sent in pictures and piece of the shirt Kendra was wearing when she disappeared," I tell him.

"Shit. I mean I'm glad it might finally be solved, but this is going to be hard on Spin. I remember what happened the last time it looked like there was a lead on the case," Owen remarks.

"Yeah, and this could be worse honestly," Clare says. They share a look before Owen walks away.

"What happened last time?" I ask Clare.

"It was just after I transferred to day shift and got partnered with Luke. A rookie officer arrested a guy for shoplifting, and the guy wanted to cut a deal for information on Kendra. The guy said Kendra was a runaway and working as a prostitute in Ottawa. Spin and his mom were always certain she wasn't a runaway, but they thought maybe she had been taken by human traffickers. Spinner spent almost an entire week combing the streets of Ottawa looking for Kendra, of course he never found her. It just about broke him, he nearly dropped into the bottle and never came back. Simpson got him dried up and kept it off his record, the rest of us did what we could. I'm worried that finding out what she really went through, might just make him snap."

"Yeah, I can't blame him, if Adam had been missing fifteen years and I had no idea what happened I'd go crazy too," I comment and then see my brother walk in. "Speaking of Adam," I comment.

"Hi Adam, take a seat, I know what your favorite drink is," Owen tells him.

"Thanks Owen," Adam grins and walks over to our table, "you must be Clare," Adam grins sitting down next to me.

"Ah, I see your brother talks about me," Clare smirks.

"All the time, he's talked about all of you; Spinner, Sean, and your boss, but mostly you. Probably because you're his partner."

"Yeah, well I do spend the most time with her. We're working on a particularly emotional case, figured she could use a drink," I comment.

"I was hoping to meet some of you since we were meeting here, usually we meet closer to my work," Adam remarks as Owen brings over Adam's drink. Adam orders a cheeseburger and looks back at us. "Well I know you can't talk about the case you're working on, and it sounds like you may not really want to. So, has my brother been a good partner so far?"

"Yes, he has, he's been learning the ropes for both homicide and the cold case unit pretty fast," Clare smiles.

"Yeah, he struggled in school a bit, and he wanted to be a professional football player. He even got drafted to a college team, but a bad injury freshman year killed that," Adam tells her.

"Dropped out, moved back home to recover, wondered what I was going to do because I'm not good at much."

"That's not true," Adam speaks up.

"It is, I was terrible in school, without sports I was sure I'd end up at a gas station or something. Until Mom reminded me that when I was really little I wanted to be a cop, and I started to pursue it. It was hard working my way up to D.C. I had to take the tests a couple of times and Adam helped me study. I liked undercover work though, and turns out I was good at it."

"You were good at undercover, but I'm glad you're in the cold case unit now. I get to see you more often," Adam says and I grin. Owen brings over our food and refills my beer and Clare's wine. "So, Clare, why'd you go into law enforcement?" Adam questions before taking a bite of his burger.

"It's a much longer story, one I don't want to go into right now," she says. Adam and I exchange a look, whatever it is it's a painful memory for her, that much is clear. "I always did love a good mystery though, and that's a lot of detective work. I was always in advanced classes in school, I think my mom will forever be disappointed that I didn't become a scientist or something."

"Eternal parental disappointment, something I'm very familiar with," I comment.

Adam and Clare begin talking about science and math and other things my brain doesn't wrap around. I knew they'd get a long well. We stay at Owen's bar for a couple of hours all together.

"It was good to meet you Adam, we'll have to get drinks again sometime. Right now I gotta get home to two very hungry dogs," Clare says.

"Yeah, me too a fiancé that is no dogs, but you should come to dinner sometime. I'm a pretty decent cook, and I know Grace would like to meet you," Adam says speaking for his fiancé.

"I'd love to," Clare smiles.

"I'll bring her next time I come, you two can talk about science while Grace and I talk about music," I comment and Adam chuckles. "We have to walk back the station and our cars, night Bro," I say hugging my brother.

He hugs Clare goodnight, we all wave to Owen and leave the bar. Adam parked in the parking lot, we wave to him before we start walking back to the precinct garage.

"Thanks for inviting me, your brother is great," Clare says.

"Yes he is, and I knew you two would be fast friends. Growing up FTM he went through a lot, but he always came through it stronger and with a smile."

"I can see that, he's got a great sense of humor. See you tomorrow Drew," she says before getting in her car.

I get in my car and drive home, thinking about dinner with my brother, happy that he and Clare are friends. Then I start thinking about Spinner, I hope he'll be okay tonight. I get home and go up to my apartment, it's a small one bedroom, but it's a pretty nice apartment. I set my keys in the bowl by the door, take out my wallet and credentials and set them down. I'm about to lock up my gun when I hear movement in the apartment.

"Who's there?" I call into the apartment.

"Welcome home Baby," Katie says walking out of my room in one of my shirts.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in rehab," I growl.

"I couldn't, I couldn't do it Drew. I'm in so much pain I need the drugs."

"It's called withdrawal, you don't need the drugs you think you do. I'm taking you back to rehab," I tell her grabbing her arm. I can tell she's high, but the strongest thing in my medicine cabinet is aspirin.

"NO," she shrieks hitting my chest, "I'M NOT GOING BACK."

"Katie what did you take?"

"I needed something, it hurt so much."

"What did you take Katie? Tell me now," I demand forcefully.

"Dilaudid," she finally admits and my heart sinks.

"Get dressed, I'm taking you back to rehab," I tell her.

"I'm not going back there," she snaps at me angrily. Then she softens, fingering the buttons on my shirt. "I just want to feel good and be with you," she coos.

"I already told you Katie, I can't do this, I can't be with you when you're like this. You never told me why you took a backslide," I comment.

"Morphine wasn't enough anymore," she says.

"Anymore? You've been on it this whole time. You weren't better at all, and now you just needed a bigger fix!"

This revelation has me furious, it means she's been lying to me the last two years. I grab her arm and twist it behind her back to get control of her. She's starts crying and whining for me to let her go, but I know I'm not hurting her. I put her in my washroom and block the door, there's no other way out. She starts screaming and banging on the door, and I ignore her. I consider calling her family, but there's nothing they can do. I can think of one person to call, I just hope he knows what to do and how to help. I walk to the living room again, away from Katie's noise, and pull my cell phone from my pocket. Scrolling the contacts I find the right one and click call, waiting for a couple rings before he answers.

"Drew? Everything okay?"

"No, I need your help," I tell Simpson.

"What's wrong? What's all the noise?"

 **Update soon picking up the following day. Next story to go up is the premiere of** _ **"Evil is Alive and Well"**_ **which I know some of you voted on in the short story poll, of course it had already been slated to go up.**


	11. Heading Straight Into the Blackness

**I hope you've all taken advantage of the quiz, polls and survey I added to the DeGrassi Saviors site.**

 **All fans of** _ **"Just a Bite"**_ **you will be happy to know that thanks to Sequels Survey on the DeGrassi Saviors site that story is getting more chapters!**

 **Okay, it won't technically be a sequel, but that's fine. I am picking up the story right where it left off and continuing from there (it's officially the Energizer Bunny of stories) so it is now going to be a long story.**

 **I have finished the plots and** _ **"Just a Bite"**_ **will be joining the rotation of stories in the next rotation. So, I will post** _ **"I Wanna be Your Man Like no Other Can", "We've Got to Learn with these Ghosts", "Passion at First Sight"**_ **and then the rotation will start over with** _ **"You Ought to Have Me on Your Mind"**_ **at the end of the long stories (after I post** _ **"We've Got to Learn to Live with Ghosts"**_ **)** _ **"Just a Bite"**_ **will become the 5** **th** **long story in the rotation.**

 **I know; a lot of A/Ns but wanted to make you all aware of one of thing.** _ **"As the Poet Drags the Darkness"**_ **is also getting more chapters! It will not be a long story, it will continue to be a short story, but will probably get to 10 or 12 chapters. I am currently working on the plots and when they are finished it will replace one of the currently running short stories.**

 **See, your feedback greatly influences things, so make sure you participate in the polls and survey. Shoot me your ideas, post reviews with feedback, I always listen and do what I can to make it happen.**

 **Try your hand at the quiz to be an OC in an upcoming story of your choice as well.**

 **Okay, that's enough of an A/N from me, I hope you enjoy this chapter**

 **WARNING** **: This chapter gets pretty dark at the end and contains possible TRIGGER WARNINGS.**

 **Ch. 11 Heading Straight Into the Blackness**

 **(SPINNER)**

"You look rougher than I feel," I comment to Drew when he comes in Thursday morning.

"Long night," he yawns.

"I'll get you some bad coffee," Clare says getting up from her desk.

"How'd it go with your mom last night?" Drew questions sitting at his desk.

"It was hard, to finally have hope but to know that Kendra had been kidnapped. We looked at the original list and added some names, but it's been fifteen years. I don't know if I'm remembering everything, I may have some of these people wrong," Spinner says.

"Even so, it can't hurt to ask them. If they didn't see her around the time of her disappearance we know they won't be helpful. I typed up the list and e-mailed it to you and Clare, we can spend a couple hours contacting them before we go out to canvas," Sean tells him.

Clare returns with coffee for Drew, she puts her hand on his shoulder as she places it on his desk. "Everything okay?" She queries in a low voice.

"I'll tell you later, thanks for the coffee," Drew responds.

She gives him a sympathetic smile and sits at her desk. We divide up the list of people that mom and I remembered, some of them list the contact information from fifteen years ago. We're able to reach a few people that way, but for most of them we have to find current contact information. A couple hours of sitting at my desk calling people and I'm getting restless, we've only reached a few people and the few we have spoken to have no new information.

"I think it's time to canvas, I'll tell the boss," I comment standing up. "Hey Boss," I say after he's waved me into his office. Calling people is getting us nowhere, I need to be out on the streets, can't sit at my desk anymore."

"Alright, take a car and go canvas, a lot of people are probably at work, you might get calls this evening."

I nod and close the door to his office, everyone else is ready and waiting for me. We take one car, we're only canvasing a six block area centering out from my old apartments. We'll start in the building and then split into opposite directions from there. I park at the building and take a deep breath when we get out of the car. Fifteen years later and the air smells the same, the building looks the same. I can almost hear the echoes of Kendra playing with her friends when she was little.

"Apartments don't generally have residents for fifteen years or longer. When they do it's usually older people. A lot of people also may not be home," Clare comments.

"Yeah, I know, there's a hundred and twenty units, but I figured we'd start at the office. See if anyone has actually been here more than fifteen years. I know one person that is probably still here, but we should start at the office anyway," I reply.

We go into the office and after showing them our badges they look at their records. Only two residents in the entire building have been here that long, so we split up. Sean and I take Mr. George Cahill, he's been here the longest at nearly twenty years. He's the one I was sure still lived here. He lived a couple floors below us, a widower with no family. Mom would sometimes take him cookies and such, and after Kendra's disappearance would sometimes eat with him.

"Yes?" He asks opening his front door but not taking off the chain. "Oh, Gavin, what are you doing here?" He asks.

"Can we come in for a few minutes Mr. Cahill? We have some new leads on Kendra, and I just need to ask you about the day of her disappearance again."

"Of course," he smiles closing his door to unlock the chain. His door opens a second later and he steps aside to let us in. "I hope you find out what happened to her, Kendra was a sweet girl. My memory is not what it used to be, but that day I will never forget. I remember the panic your mother was in when Kendra didn't come home. I only saw Kendra once that day, I was leaving for work and she was up and sitting on the apartment steps. She said goodbye to me and I told her to enjoy her last few days of summer. She said she planned to, I smiled and walked down to the bus stop. I couldn't see her from the bus stop, and didn't see her after that."

"Do you remember anyone new around that time?" I question.

"No," Mr. Cahill shakes his head after a moment, "a new family had moved in a month before, Johnson I think the name was. They were on the first floor though, and I don't know that Kendra ever met them, they had much younger children. Kendra never talked to me about what was going on her life though."

"Thanks Mr. Cahill," I nod turning to walk to the door.

"I hope you find her Gavin, she deserves to rest. Please send my regards to your mother."

"Thanks, and I will," I nod.

We leave his apartment and go meet with Clare and Drew in the lobby. They had about as much luck with Mrs. Makepeace, another retiree that has been here almost sixteen years. They said she barely even remembered Kendra, and it wasn't until they showed her Kendra's picture that it sparked any recognition. We split up to start canvasing the neighborhood, but fifteen years is a long time, people die and move away, so our best bet is the local businesses. Small family owned businesses that have hung on in this neighborhood. Not only might they remember something, but they would also know any families in the neighborhood that have been here for so long.

Canvasing is still a long shot, but it's something to do without sitting at my desk. At least, I'm out and moving, talking to people, making phone calls from my desk is the one of the aspects of the job that I dislike. The only thing I dislike more is paperwork. It's pretty unlikely that anyone will remember a specific day fifteen years ago, especially if it was just another day for them. I on the other hand remember everything about that day, it was just a normal day for me too, until my mom called and told me Kendra was missing. Now it's a day I can never forget, one burned into my memory with a lot of pain.

 **(CLARE)**

"So, what happened last night?" I ask Drew after we go in the opposite direction of Spin and Sean.

"When I got home Katie was in my apartment, she left rehab. I think she's been lying to me and taking morphine the last two years. Now she's taking dilaudid, I had to lock her in my washroom and called Simpson. He called a facility and came over, they took her and Simpson was able to get a judge to keep her locked in for thirty days. I really hope it helps, that it works this time, but we've been down this road so many times before I'm not sure that it will. After she went to the facility I went home, but couldn't sleep. I called her parents as soon as I was sure they'd be awake, told them what happened and where she was."

"It's been my experience that rehab only works for those that want to get clean. If they don't, if even a little part of them doesn't want to be better, then nothing that happens in rehab will help them."

Drew nods sadly, he doesn't reply although we are walking into the first business. A gas station, it's been in this neighborhood at least fifty years, although I doubt the same clerk has been here that long. We walk in and tell the clerk why we're there, he's a kid, maybe nineteen. He says he's only been working there a few months (as though we couldn't tell by looking at him that he hasn't been here for fifteen years) but says the owner is in the office. He picks up a phone tells the owner we're here and then says we can go back as he hangs up the phone.

"Mr. Prifiti, how long have you owned this gas station?"

"Over twenty years, what is this about?"

"We're investigating the disappearance of Kendra Mason, it happened in this neighborhood fifteen years ago. I know it's been a long time, but do you remember this girl?" I question showing him her picture.

"She looks vaguely familiar, I remember that she went missing, there were posters all over the neighborhood. They asked me about her back then too, but I don't know anything, didn't see anything."

"Can you tell us which residents have been on the street that long?"

"Only a few, the red and white house across the street, the Nelson family, they've been here thirty years at least. The Walton's have been here around fifteen years, the Berry's about twenty I think. Everyone else I know on this street has been here less than ten years. The Walton's live in the green house on the corner, but I don't know what house the Berry's live in."

"Thank you Mr. Prifiti, we can find out where they live," Drew says.

We leave the gas station and go by the two houses that we were told about. At the first one no one is home, and at the second one they remember Kendra from the neighborhood. However, they don't remember anything from that day and have no information helpful to us. They remember all the missing person pictures that went up afterward, but nothing else.

"Should I call and get an address on the Berry family?" Drew inquires.

"Actually, I think we're going about this all wrong," I comment looking at a young man leaning in the window of lime green sports car. "How much do your neighbors really know about you? About the neighborhood? Very few neighborhoods actually have that nosy gossip that knows all about everyone's business. Anyone that has been here that long is probably only going to remember Kendra from the neighborhood. I imagine they were all at work when she actually went missing, I doubt any neighbors would know what she was doing that day."

"So we talk to her friends back then?"

"No, her friends were all interviewed and none of them saw her that day. She was on her way to meet two of her friends, but they said she never showed up. That was all verified on the original investigation, and they asked her friends about possible boyfriends Kendra had or where else she could have gone. We already called most of her friends this morning when we went down our lists. No, what I'm thinking is finding out which dealers ran this territory back then and talk to them."

"You're right, dealers know everything about the neighborhoods they work in. Who buys, who talks to the cops, if anyone new came in the neighborhood they would see it," Drew agrees.

"I'll call Sean, see if they're having any better luck. If Spin wants to stay out here and keep canvasing then I'll call for a car to come get us," I tell Drew and get out my phone.

"Hey Clare, any luck?" Sean answers his phone

"No, either no one is home or they remember her from the neighborhood, but no new information on that day or what might have happened. I had a thought though, and we're going to head back to the station. If you guys want to keep canvasing then we can call car."

"No, we're getting the same, no one is home or they don't remember that day. We'll meet you guys back at the car," Sean says.

I tell Drew we're going back to the car and put away my phone. We meet Sean and Spin at the car and head back to the station, but I don't tell them what my thought was. After checking in with the boss Sean and Spin sit down to check their messages and start calling people back. Meanwhile Drew and I start looking at who was running drugs in Spinner's old neighborhood around the time of Kendra's disappearance. There was only one person that ran the territory back then, his street name was Merciless Man, definitely someone you didn't want to mess with. He is currently however in Toronto East Detention Center. I quickly get it off my screen (So Sean and Spin don't see) and Drew and I get up to go talk to the boss, he'll have to get this approved. I knock on his office door and he waves us in.

"We need to go see a prisoner at Toronto East Detention Center. His name is Adrian Perkins, street name Merciless Man. He was the major drug dealer in that area at the time Kendra went missing. If anyone saw anything odd that day then he did."

"Go, I'll call in and get you clearance," Simpson nods.

"We'll be back, got a possible lead," I tell Sean and Spin when we leave Simpson's office.

We grab our guns from our lockers and go down to the garage to sign out a car. While I drive to the detention center Drew looks up Perkins arrest records. He's currently eleven years into a twenty-five year sentence for a number of charges including; manufacturing and selling drugs, firearms possession, sexual assault, sexual battery and assault with a deadly weapon. After parking at the prison it's over thirty minutes before we're sitting across the table from Adrian Perkins. The guards brought him in and cuffed his hands to the table, then they left, one is standing just outside the door. They can't hear us, but we push a button near the door when we're ready to leave.

"You're hot for a lady cop," he smiles with licentious malice as his eyes rove over me.

"I'm a Detective Constable with Homicide," I correct him.

"Yeah? You want to handcuff me? I'd let you handcuff me, lick those big breasts of yours," Adrian says his voice husky with lust and his eyes glossed over with visions.

"Watch your fucking mouth, and you better get whatever image you got in your head out," Drew growls at him.

"You tappin' your partner, that's hot. Tell me, she cuff you to the bed?"

Drew growls and gets up like he's going to hit him. I grab Drew's arm and force him back down in his seat.

"He's not worth it, let's not forget why we're here," I remind Drew pulling out Kendra's picture from the file. "Do you recognize this girl?"

"Yeah, sure Kendra Mason, went missing. That was fifteen years ago, sixteen come August 22nd," Adrian replies.

"You knew that information awfully fast, you barely glanced at the picture. You even knew her name," Drew comments.

"Hard to forget, all those posters went up, plastered the neighborhood. I knew everyone in my territory back then, I knew everyone that brought from me. I knew everyone that didn't like me there and I had to threaten. The ones that let me do my business and didn't bother me, I knew them too."

"So you would know if anyone new came into the neighborhood?"

"Yeah, if someone was in the neighborhood and didn't belong I would know."

"What about that day? You see anyone new in the neighborhood?"

"Yeah, a middle-aged creep, white, brown hair, in a silver Toyota Celica, had to be an '85. It was a convertible with a fabric top, sporty but cheap sporty you know. It drove around the neighborhood a few times that day, seemed lost at first. He saw Kendra walking down the street out of the neighborhood and he pulled over. She leaned in the window, they talked a minute and she got into his car. After that no one saw her", Adrian informs us, he seems rather proud of this information.

"And you never told this to police during the original investigation?" Drew asks.

"I ain't going to talk to no cops, they never came and talked to me and if it didn't mess with my business then what did it matter to me," Adrian shrugs.

"You're a real prize Adrian, you are right where you belong. Let's go Clare, I don't want him looking at you a minute longer," Drew says and we get up from our chairs.

"See you in jerk off fantasies tonight lady cop," Adrian says kissing the air as we're walking to the door.

Drew clenches his jaw and turns, I grab his arm again, "Don't Drew, he's not worth it."

I press the button and the guards open the door letting us out. I have Drew drive so he'll calm down and I call in to get a list of silver Toyota Celica's registered in Toronto at the time. I ask them to search 1984 and 1985 models. I know we'll still get a list of hundreds if not thousands, but we can narrow that further by white men that would have been between 35 and 50 at the time with brown hair. From there we look at anyone with prior arrests or suspicious behavior.

"You know he's going to go to bed thinking about you and jerking off tonight," Drew comments when I get off the phone.

"You can't stop men from thinking or fantasizing. I am capable of taking care of myself," I remind him.

"I didn't like the way he was looking at you," Drew responds. I just shake my head, we're almost back at the station and we have a lot to tell them.

 **(SEAN)**

"Well, that was a waste of an afternoon," Spinner says throwing down a file on his desk. "I'm gonna do down and get some good coffee, some air. You want anything?"

"No, I'm good," I shake my head.

Spinner leaves and I lean back in my chair, I close my eyes for a second and rub my face. I'm tired, it's been a long day, but this is for Spinner and I'm not giving up. When I hear people walking in I open my eyes and look over to see Drew and Clare locking up their guns.

"Any luck here?" Drew asks.

"No, we spent all afternoon calling people. We re-interviewed the friends she was supposed to meet that day, they said they had planned to meet at noon at the mall and Kendra never showed. They called the house, no one answered, they figured she met up with a guy or something. Exactly the same information they gave during the original investigation. They remembered the names of some boys she had crushes on. We called them they both said they didn't see Kendra that day. A lot of phone calls and nothing to show it. Spin went to get some coffee he'll be back in a second."

"We had better luck, spoke to the major drug dealer in the area at the time. He said Kendra got into a silver Toyota Celica with a brown haired, middle aged man. He said the car drove through the neighborhood a few times before it left with Kendra. I've already called in for a list, but it's going to be hundreds of registered owners. We gotta go check in with the boss," Clare tells me.

They knock on Simpson's door and he waves them in, they go in and close his door just as Spinner comes back. I tell him what they told me, and he's happy to hear that there's some new information on the case. Clare and Drew come out of Simpson's office and sit at their desks.

"I got the list of Toyota Celica's registered in the area at the time. It's a long list, we should split it up and start narrowing it down to the ones that are relevant. I'll e-mail you each a portion," Clare tells us.

She divides up the list and we start going through it, looking up registered owners and anyone else that lived with them at the time. We're looking for brown haired middle aged white men, which helps a little but we still end up with a list of over 300. So, we take our lists and start going through one by one looking up criminal records. Which is long and tedious, though it is narrowing the list. We eliminate anyone with no prior criminal activity. Also, anyone whose only violations are traffic or parking tickets. Anyone with a juvie record or even suspected of something like peeping stays on the list of people to interview.

"Hey, you four need to get to the address I just texted you," Simpson says coming out of his office.

We all look at our phones and find the address, grabbing our coats and guns we head down to the garage and take one car. When we pull up to the house I'm not sure what we're doing here, it's a non descript white house, on a non descript street. The house is not run down or in disrepair, and other than the police car out front it looks like every other house on the street.

"Why'd the boss send us here?" Spinner questions as we all get out.

"Don't know, but it had to be important, it's late we've all been working almost ten hours. We were tracing a good lead, I thought he was coming out to tell us to go home," Clare remarks as we walk into the house. We get as far as the entry before Dave comes down the stairs.

"Upstairs, the bedroom, that's not the master, Spinner you should stay down here," Dave tells us.

"It's about Kendra isn't it? I have to see," Spin says and runs up the stairs before we can stop him.

We all follow him of course, stopping when we get to the bedroom. It looks like a bedroom, an ordinary bedroom, a little sparse maybe. A bed, and dresser, no pictures, nothing personal, just a couple stuffed animals. It does however seem rather familiar.

"This is it, the bedroom from those pictures," Clare comments.

"He kept her here," Spinner snarls with an immense rage.

"Not just Kendra," Dave says walking past us and opening the closet door.

On the inside of the closet are pictures of Kendra and two other girls. Groups of pictures in different states of their capture. On one of Kendra's pictures in red ink is written: **She was my favorite** , Spinner sees it and starts to lose it. It takes me, Drew and the other officer to hold him back and keep him from ripping the room to shreds.

"Who is the resident at this house?" Clare questions.

"The house is owned by an Esther Colby, a resident at a local retirement home. The power and water are still in her name," Dave replies.

"Wait, Colby, there's a Russell Colby on my list. He fit the description and I couldn't eliminate him he'd been suspected of molesting a thirteen year old. She refused to testify and later recanted saying that she'd made the whole thing up. I'll call it in, if he's related to Esther Colby then we definitely have enough for a warrant," Clare says and steps out to the hallway as she gets out her cell phone.

"When I find this guy I'm going to rip his throat out," Spinner says. He explodes a punch onto the wall and then storms downstairs.

"We're going to have to keep him away from this guy," I comment looking at the others in the room, "I don't think he's just talking. If he gets near this guy I think he's going to kill him, and I don't think Spinner cares what the consequences will be."

 **Update soon from about here. Next story to go up is the premier of** _ **"Passion at First Sight"**_ **.**


	12. There Is Eminent Death to The Promise

**It's been a ridiculously crazy two weeks. I've had no time or energy to write this week. So, I'm cranking this chapter out this weekend, and it's a bit on the short side, sorry.**

 **Good news is after this it's chapter 13 of** _ **"Just a Bite"**_ **which I already have partially written. Plus, work won't be so intense this week, so that shouldn't take nearly as long to go up.**

 **Ch. 12 There Is Eminent Death to The Promise I'm Keeping**

 **(SPINNER)**

"Russell Colby is Esther Colby's son," Dave tells us walking into the room. "He's a substitute teacher and he worked in same district where Kendra went to school. He substituted her English class for two weeks, just over three months before she disappeared."

"I remember her talking about him now, how he was a good teacher, how much she liked him. I should have known, should have thought of it when she disappeared," I say feeling guilty, and then so angry I almost punch the wall. I would have if Sean hadn't caught my arm.

"Spin it was three months before she disappeared, you couldn't have known, to think of something like that at a time like that. If Adam had disappeared I couldn't remember everyone he talked about in the months before he disappeared," Drew tells me trying to be comforting. I do appreciate it, but all I can think is that I should have done something, that I should have known.

"It's a perfect job for a pedophile like him, moving from school to school. He might have a job for a day or a week, maybe a month at most, but he waits, bides his time and finds the perfect prey. He's never at a school long enough for them to see his behavior. Maybe not even long enough to have his students get worried. He built up their confidence and then stalked them, as with Kendra. Finding them outside of school, having already earned their trust they walk right into his trap," Clare says being as logical as ever.

"I need some air," I say almost under my breath.

"You want some company?" Sean offers.

"No, I'll be right back, just need a moment," I reply.

I go downstairs and outside, we've attracted a lot of attention of course. Cops swarming a house in your neighborhood always attracts a lot of attention. Uniforms are interviewing neighbors and on-lookers. They aren't likely to be helpful, they seldom are, but we're bound to hear things like "I was always a little suspicious of him" or "he kept mostly to himself, never really knew him". Neighbors always say things like that, they don't want to admit they had no idea something was going on. Or admit that they were suspicious of something and too much of a coward to report it.

The press is here too of course, Clare's going to love that, if I know her she'll try and go out the back. Or just stay at the house until the press is gone. I don't want to deal with the press and I don't know how much they know. So, I go to the backyard and lean on the fence, I can see the light on in the window where the others are working. I lean on the fence, trying to breathe as I feel smothered by memories and guilt. I'm trying to remember everything Kendra ever said about Mr. Colby, but I barely remember anything. Just that she talked excitedly about her young substitute teacher. I remember telling her I usually liked subs better too, they wanted to impress and didn't know how dumb I was.

"Spin you can't blame yourself," Clare comments coming out the backdoor to join me.

"How'd you know I'd be back here?"

"Too many people out front, you couldn't think there. You didn't need air, you needed a space to be alone and go over every moment that Kendra ever talked about Colby."

"Since you can read my mind so well, can you tell me how I stop blaming myself? All I can think is that I should have known something. I should have picked up on some clue, something she said or did."

"No, Colby was smart, he didn't attack her in class, he probably didn't even give her special attention. He was a cool teacher, a young teacher, you must have had some and they were simply that. Colby is a predator, he knew what he was doing, he didn't go after his victims while he was substituting in their classrooms, he would have been caught. Whatever happened that day Spinner you couldn't have stopped it. He had already built Kendra's trust, do you really think your sister would have gone with him if she'd felt at all uneasy?"

"No," I shake my head. I know Clare is right, about all of it, and yet I still fell guilty, as though I should have known or done something, anything. We're both quiet for a moment, so when my phone rings in my pocket it startles us both. I pull it out but don't recognize the number. "Mason," I answer thinking it's one of the uniforms, or maybe a reporter that figured out we're on Kendra's case.

"I know you're at my house," says the slimy voice on the other end of the line. Its sound chills me and I know instantly it's Colby, same voice that called me after I received the first envelope. I grind my teeth hoping he can feel my hate through the phone. "Don't talk, I'm sure you're not alone, but I also know you want to get me alone. I'll grant your wish, I'm alone now, come to me, I've texted you the address. Come alone and I'll tell you everything you want to know."

He hangs up and I look at my phone, seeing an address. I want to go, to accept his offer, but I have to go alone. I look at Clare, I can't tell her Colby called me, she'll come, she'll tell Simpson. I have to think of something quick, and Clare's smart.

"Who was that?" She inquires.

"Sales call," I reply with a shrug.

"You were on the phone a long time for a sales call."

"I wasn't listening, I tuned out, I was thinking. I need to get out of here, being here it's just making me angry, guilty and I can't think straight. I'm going to mom's, update her as much as I can before she hears it on the news. Tell the others will you, and the boss when he checks in?" I request and walk quickly from the yard.

I walk calmly to the car, speeding out of here will only draw attention. As soon as I'm away from the crowd I drive faster, at the next stoplight I find the address and look it up on the GPS. It starts giving me directions and I drive as fast as I can to get there, putting on the siren since this is a company car. I find the address, he's brought me to an abandoned warehouse on the edge of town, a place where we are truly alone.

I park and lock the car, it occurs to me that he could just shoot me right now. I'm completely exposed in the open, but I don't think that's what he wants. This place is pretty big though and he could be anywhere, but as soon as I enter the building I see him. Sitting on an old barrel, a gun in his hand, but he hasn't raised it. When he hears me coming he raises his head to look at me.

"Hello Gavin," Colby says with this sinister smile that glints in the moonlight. "Kendra talked about you, you were almost all she talked about when she was with me."

"You mean when you were holding my sister captive," I growl stepping closer to him. We're still a good twenty feet apart.

"She talked about your mom too, but mostly she talked about you. She asked for you a lot, at night I'd hear her wishing for you to save her," he says making my fists and jaw clench. I'm angry and guilty, I want to run over and just tear off his head, but he's still talking. "You have questions I'm sure, ask me anything, I will tell you honestly."

"Why Kendra?"

"She was beautiful, captivating from the moment I walked into that classroom. She was intelligent, quick, strong willed. She was always so eager to help me, the first time she stayed after school to help in my class I knew I had to have her. Sweet, innocent, intelligent, yielding, she was wonderful, she was always my favorite. I had her the longest, over three years we were together," he says with this sickly pleased smile. He's talking as though they dated and it makes me angry and makes my stomach turn.

"You didn't take her while you were subsisting in her class though. The other girls, you were a substitute in their classrooms too, that's how you found your victims."

"That didn't sound like a question, but yes that's where I found them and initially gained their trust. I'd keep up with them, not so accidentally run into them in public places, malls, movie theaters, stores. I'd wait for just the right moment, wait for them to be alone, and able to come with me. With Kendra all I had to do was offer her a ride to meet her friends. She was all too happy for the ride, and to take the drink laced with the drugs that I offered her."

"WHY DID YOU CALL ME HERE?" I yell at him feeling my blood boil. "Why give yourself up now, that's the only thing I can't figure out. You're a predator, you were taking prey and no one knew anything."

"I'm dying, brain cancer, inoperable, incurable. Treatment will only make me sicker and weaker, I have six months at best. Sending you the envelope was the beginning of my confession, and this is the end of it. I called you here for one reason Gavin. I don't want a trial, I don't want to die in jail. I called you here to kill me Gavin, I'm going to die and I'm not doing it slowly. You have a gun, you want to kill me, so do it, get your revenge, kill me for everything I did to your sister, to all of them. For every way I touched them, everything I did to them, for every time your sister cried out for you as I had my way with her and you weren't there to save her."

I pull the gun from my holster, gripping the handle, my finger barely brushing the trigger. I know shooting him like this is wrong, and yet I hate him. I want to see him die, I want to rip him to shreds for what he did to Kendra. To kill him for everything he did to my family, to the families of all the victims.

He deserves death.

My finger caresses the trigger as I walk a few steps forward and raise the gun at the pedophile scum that took my baby sister.

 **(CLARE)**

"We got a problem," I tell the others going back into the room. As soon as Spinner left I knew he wouldn't go home, his voice was steady, his reason for leaving logical. It was the look in his eyes though, full of hate and determination, not a look for going to talk to your mom.

"What's wrong?" Sean questions.

"Spinner got a call, he said it was a sales call, but he was on the phone too long. He's gone, left in a car, said he was going to fill his mom in before she heard it on the news."

"You don't think that's where he's headed?" Drew asks.

"He didn't look like he was going to his mom's, he looked irate, full of despise. I think Colby called him, he's done it before, after Spinner got the envelope," I remind them.

"Great, he went to find the man that took his sister, and he's alone. Spin could do anything, he could be walking into a trap and we have no way to know where he's gone. The way he's feeling he could do anything, and I don't think he cares right now," Sean remarks.

"He took a fleet car, that means there's a GPS tracker in it. Sean call it in to the boss, I'll call the station and have them track the car," I order.

Sean nods and gets out his phone as I do the same. I tell them which car Spin took and get the address, I relay it to Sean and he relays it to Simpson.

"Simpson says to go, he'll meet us there and to wait for him before we go in," Sean says.

"Then let's go, Dave make sure no one else follows us. Every inch of this house and it's grounds need to be examined, do not leave until it's done," I command and Dave nods. It doesn't matter that I'm not the next ranking officer, they all know one of us is in trouble and they'll do whatever they can.

Sean, Drew and I leave calmly and fight our way through the press to get to our car. While the press is shouting questions at us I dig my nails into my palm. Dave follows us down, just to make sure no one else follows us. Sean drives, my phone giving us directions, but I'm afraid of what we'll find when we get there. Sean parks next to the car that Spin took, I don't hear anything but there's nothing around us.

"I'm going in," Sean says after waiting a moment. He starts walking forward but Drew and I grab him.

"We don't know what's in there or where they are, we wait for the boss. Colby must have asked for Spin to come alone or he would have told us. What if you walk in and Colby just shoots you? He wanted Spinner, not us, we can't just barge in."

"And, what is he doing to Spinner while we're waiting out here?" Sean growls.

"I don't know Sean, I'm worried about Spin too, you guys are like family to me, about the only family I have, but we can't walk into a trap. We're no good to Spin, Kendra or the rest of Colby's victims if we're dead."

Sean sighs, deflating a little as he knows I'm right. When we see headlights approaching we know Simpson is here. He parks next to us and gets out of the car, looking at the warehouse before looking back at us.

"We've only been here a few minutes, but Spin's in there and we need to go in," Sean says.

"We are Sean, but we don't know where they are a…"

The sound of a gunshot sends a cold chill through all of us! We all take off running, either Spin is shot or he just shot Colby, either way we have to get in there. We see Spin as soon as we get in, gun still in his hand, and Colby is slumped on the ground motionless, blood coming from his head and pooling around his body.

"He pulled his gun," Spinner says turning around and walking toward us. He doesn't stop when he gets to us, simply hands his gun to Simpson and continues walking out of the warehouse.

"Sean go with him, stay with him, do not let him leave," Simpson says but doesn't keep his voice down. Sean nods and goes with Spinner, the three of us walk towards the dead body. "Don't touch anything, the scene will have to be processed," Simpson says while we look at Colby's dead body.

"Colby does have a gun," Drew comments pointing to the gun still partially clutched in Colby's hand.

"Yes, and that's a good thing or I don't think there'd be anything in my power to help Spinner," Simpson says.

Simpson gets out his radio and calls in the scene, uniforms and crime scene units will be here shortly. Drew takes some pictures on his phone because it will take several minutes for them to get here. All I can do in that time is look at the dead body and wonder if Spin shot him in cold blood or if Colby really raised his gun. I know Spinner had provocation, after what Colby did to his sister Spinner had plenty of reason to kill Colby, but that doesn't mean it was right. I have to wonder though, if faced with the same situation and choice what would I have done?

When the uniforms and crime scene units arrive Simpson tells them to secure the scene. We walk out and find Spin and Sean on the hood of one of the cars. Neither is talking, I'm not even sure Spinner is blinking.

"Spinner with me, you three go home and get some rest," Simpson commands. Spinner says nothing, simply gets in the car and they drive off.

"He thinks we can sleep after everything tonight?" Sean comments.

"I have to feed my dogs, but I won't sleep. I feel like a shower though," I reply.

"Yeah, a shower does sound nice, see you guys tomorrow," Sean says getting into one car.

"Think I'll call Owen, see what he's up to, I'll drop you at home first," Drew says.

We get in the car and drive silently, both of us wondering what happened in the warehouse tonight. Drew parks outside my house and we say goodnight. Thorne and Wells are very happy to see me when I come in, they greet me happily and it does bring a smile to my face. I'd like people more if they were like this, always happy to see me, never arguing with me, never doing something out of malice or revenge, happy to just sit with me on the sofa.

After feeding the dogs I take a shower, I'm not hungry, I'm not tired. I take a long shower, put on my oldest, comfiest pajamas and take a glass of wine to the sofa. I turn on the TV and the dogs join me on the sofa. They fall asleep while I'm watching TV, after three glasses of wine and mind-numbing TV I too fall asleep. Waking to the alarm on my phone the next morning, Wells is licking my face and I pet his head.

I got a couple hours of sleep, but I feel like I didn't get any. I feed the dogs and get ready for the day, I have a bad feeling about the day. I'm not sure how much the press already knew, and if they find out that Spin's sister is involved they're going to be at the station. If they find out that Spin met the kidnapper last night, alone, and the man is now dead, then there's no coming back from this. Since Drew dropped me off in a fleet car last night, and we never returned to the station to get our own cars, I call Drew.

"I was just about to call you, figured you'd need a ride in," Drew says.

"Yeah, I'm ready, just text me when you're here," I tell him. I hang up with Drew and since I have nervous energy now I clean while waiting for Drew. Drew sends a text when he's outside, I say goodbye to the dogs and lock up.

"You hear from anyone else?" Drew asks as he begins driving to the station.

"Nothing," I shake my head.

"I have a bad feeling about today," Drew comments.

"Me too."

We're silent all the way to the station, there are some reporters, but we pull into the garage and they can't follow us in there. You can feel it as soon as we walk into the station, everyone looking at us, whispers about last night, about Spinner. All eyes are on us as we walk upstairs, Sean is already here, he nods to us while we lock up our guns. Drew and I start walking to our desks, but before we get there Simpson calls us into his office.

"Spin will be back Monday, on desk duty until he's cleared of the shooting, if he's cleared of the shooting," Simpson is saying when Sean interrupts him.

"You don't believe it was a clean shoot Sarge?"

"It doesn't matter what I believe Sean, it matters what the investigation finds and what the ruling is. I made him take today off, he's spending it with his mother, the two of them have a lot to come to terms with. As I'm sure you are aware the press has gotten a hold of the story. Everyone in the station has a gag order on them, but that never stopped the press before. All they have right now is that Colby is being investigated related to some disappearances. I doubt it will take them long to put together the story, or find out one of the victims is the sister of one of our officers. I've ordered all press calls to be routed to me, but be prepared for reporters to call you."

I tense up instantly, it's instinctual, I can't help it, but of course the guys notice. Simpson puts his hand on my shoulder, squeezing lightly in a fatherly gesture.

"So, what do we do now? We're not investigating the shooting of Colby," Drew remarks.

"You have a lot of paperwork to do, people to interview about Colby, get to work," Simpson orders.

We leave his office and sit at our desks, Simpson sent us all lists of people to interview and paperwork to do. He told us all to go home last night, but I'm pretty sure he's been here all night. We all get to work silently, filling out paperwork and taking breaks to call people and interview them. We do it all morning, silent aside from interviews, sipping at coffee, barely even looking at each other.

"We should probably get some lunch," Sean remarks after hanging up with his latest interview. It's almost one in the afternoon and all we've had all morning is coffee.

"Yeah, I suppose," I reply getting up from my desk.

"Hey Sarge, we're gonna hit Blue and Gold for lunch, you want anything?" Sean asks poking his head into Simpson's office.

"Yeah, bring me back a cheeseburger, thanks," Simpson replies.

We leave our guns since we're just going down the street, there will be press outside somewhere, but hopefully we can avoid them. We go out by using the garage and manage to avoid the reporters.

"Hey Drew, Sean, Clare, where's Spin?" Owen asks when we come in.

"Not in today," Sean tells him.

"This have to do with the case?" Owen asks and we nod.

We order some lunch and sit around the booth silently. None of us eat all that much, we're not very hungry, we put in the order for Simpson and pay the bill. Owen gives us Simpson's order and we leave the bar. There are now more reporters around the station, and uniforms keeping them back.

"If we can't avoid them I'm going home," I tell the guys. I know Simpson will understand, all they have to say is there were reporters outside we couldn't get through.

"You ever going to tell us what your issue with the press is?" Sean questions, I shake my head my response.

"Hey, you three need a ride?" A woman asks pulling up in a detective's car. She's skinny with short blonde hair, and Drew seems to recognize her.

"Liz O'Rourke, what are you doing here?" Drew questions as we all get in the car. "Liz and I worked in the same precinct before I came to the cold case unit. This is Clare Edwards and Sean Cameron," Drew introduces us.

"Nice to meet you," she nods to us. We're at the precinct garage now and Drew gives Liz his card to open the garage. "I came to talk to your Sarge, but saw you three walking back from the bar, thought you might want to avoid the press."

"Thanks, we appreciate it," I comment as we get out of the car.

Liz follows us upstairs Drew points to Simpson's office, we give her his cheeseburger to take in with her. The three of us sit back at our desks, getting back to our paperwork. We've only been sitting at our desks a few minutes when Simpson opens his office door.

"Drew, can I see you a minute?"

"Yeah, sure," Drew says slowly getting up from his desk. He goes into Simpson's office and the door is closed, we can see them through the glass.

"Is Drew in trouble?" Sean asks as we watch them.

"I don't think so," I shake my head watching them closely. Suddenly Drew kind of sinks down supporting himself on Simpson's desk. "Something's wrong," I comment.

Simpson puts a hand on Drew's arm and says something to him. Then Drew and Liz leave Simpson's office, she's almost supporting him. Drew looks at us before quickly grabbing his credentials and wallet, then he starts running. Liz runs after him, Sean and I look at each other wondering if we should go after them or ask Simpson what's going on.

"Clare, Sean, my office," Simpson says.

"What's going on?" I question while Sean closes the door to Simpson's office.

"Drew's girl killed herself, that's why O'Rourke was here."

"Poor Drew," I gasp thinking about how they recently broke up and he forced her into rehab.

"He's insisting on seeing her, O'Rourke will take him and then take him to his brother's. I told him to take all the time he needs, that means it's just the two of you for now. I'll help out however I can, hopefully we'll get Spin back to full duty soon, but I don't know how long Drew is going to need."

Sean and I just nod and leave his office, going back to our desks. We don't sit though, just look at each other and the two empty desks.

"First Spin, now Drew, what next?" Sean exhales.

"I'm not sure I want to know."

 **Update soon, probably jumping ahead to Monday. Next story to be updated is** _ **"Just a Bite"**_ **I know many of you are excited for that one.**


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